San Francisco Bay in California has been served by ferries of all types for over 150 years. John Reed established a sailboat ferry service in 1826.[1] Although the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge and the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge led to the decline in the importance of most ferries, some are still in use today for both commuters and tourists.

The Southern Pacific Company's Bay City ferry plies the waters of San Francisco Bay in the late 19th century.

The Creek Route ferries (1851-1937)

Contra Costa, in the foreground, was one of the earliest ferries built expressly for trans-bay service. Capital, in the background, formerly a Sacramento River steamboat, served the route from 1876 to 1896. Both were built by John Gunder North.

One of the earliest ferry routes ran between San Francisco and Oakland on what was called the "creek route". The name derived from the Oakland landing site located at the foot of Broadway where Jack London Square is today, fronting on what is today called the Oakland Estuary, an inlet of San Francisco Bay. The estuary, which in the 1800s included what is today's Lake Merritt, was the "creek". In 1851,[2] Captain Thomas Gray, grandfather of the famous dancer Isadora Duncan, began the first regular ferry service to San Francisco from the East Bay. [3] Service started with the stern-wheel Sacramento River packet General Sutter[2] and the small iron steam ferry Kangaroo.[4] Service was augmented in 1852 by Caleb Cope, the small ferry Hector powered by a steam sawmill engine, and the river packets Jenny Lind and Boston. Boston burned that year and was replaced first by William Brown's San Joaquin River packet Erastus Corning and then by Charles Minturn's river packet Red Jacket. In 1853, Minturn formed the Contra Costa Steam Navigation Company and had the ferry Clinton built expressly for trans-bay service. A second ferry, Contra Costa began operating over the route in 1857.[2] Contra Costa Steam Navigation Company acquired San Antonio Steam Navigation Company with ferries San Antonio and Oakland by merger before being purchased by the San Francisco and Oakland Railroad (SF&O) in 1865.[5] Ferries continued operating along the Creek Route under railroad ownership until 1937.

Railroad ferries (1862–1958)

Central Pacific ferry El Capitan was the largest ferry on San Francisco Bay when built in 1868.[5]

Ferry Berkeley (served 1898-1958) at the San Diego Maritime Museum

The first railroad ferries on San Francisco Bay were established by the San Francisco and Oakland Railroad and the San Francisco and Alameda Railroad (SF&A), which were taken over by the Central Pacific Railroad (CPRR) in 1870 to become an integral part of the First transcontinental railroad. The earliest railroad ferries ran from Oakland Point and from Alameda Terminal when Alameda was still a peninsula. The ferry pier at Oakland Point was greatly enlarged to form the Oakland Long Wharf. These railroad ferries mostly carried passengers, not trains, although there was some ferrying of freight cars to San Francisco. When the Central Pacific re-routed the Sacramento to Oakland segment of the Transcontinental Railroad in 1876, a ferry across the Carquinez Strait was established, and the world's largest ferryboat, the Solano was built (later joined by a sister ferry, the slightly larger Contra Costa), to serve the crossing. This railroad ferry actually carried whole trains up to 48 freight cars or 24 passenger cars with their locomotives. These ferries became part of the Southern Pacific Railroad (SP) when it assumed many of the facilities of its affiliate, the Central Pacific. These large train ferries were idled when a railway bridge was completed over the Carquinez Strait in November, 1930.[6]

When trains reached Oakland, freight cars were loaded aboard ferries from Long Wharf on Oakland Point beginning in 1870. Freight car ferry loading switched to the Oakland Mole in 1881. After 1890 freight cars were delivered to the San Francisco Belt Railroad ferry slip at the foot of Lombard and East Streets. Belt Railroad tracks were later dual-gauged to also carry cars from the narrow gauge North and South Pacific Coast Railroads.[6]

The Key System transit company established its own ferry service in 1903 between the Ferry Building in San Francisco and its own pier and wharf ("mole") on the Oakland shoreline, located just south of what is today the eastern approach to the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge.

Ferries began serving north bay rail connections with the Petaluma and Haystack Railroad in 1864. San Francisco and North Pacific Railroad (SF&NP) and Petaluma and Santa Rosa Railroad (P&SR) [7] ferries connected Petaluma River landing locations with San Francisco. North Pacific Coast Railroad (NPC) ferries connected Sausalito[8] with San Francisco, and SF&NP ferries later sailed from Tiburon. Some of these ferries operated on Northwestern Pacific Railroad (NWP) schedules from 1907 to 1938.[9]

The Napa Valley Railroad established service in 1865 and connected with ferry boat service in Vallejo, California. Monticello Steamship Company began operating ferries between Vallejo and San Francisco in 1895, and began coordinating with train schedules in 1905. Golden Gate Ferry Company gained control of Monticello in 1927 and, after merging with Southern Pacific, discontinued ferry service to Vallejo in 1937.[10]

Sacramento Northern Railway used a ferry to cross the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers between Mallard and Chipps. Service began in 1912 with the wooden ferry Bridgit carrying six interurban cars. Bridgit burned in 1913 and was replaced by the steel ferry Ramon with the same car capacity.[6]

Santa Fe and Western Pacific (WP) both ran passenger ferries connecting their east bay terminals to San Francisco; but both discontinued ferry service in 1933. Southern Pacific maintained a dominant position in Bay ferry service by gaining control of the South Pacific Coast Railroad (SPC) ferries in 1887,[11] the Northwestern Pacific ferries in 1929,[12] and the Petaluma and Santa Rosa ferries in 1932.[13] After the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge and Golden Gate Bridge opened in 1936 and 1937, Southern Pacific passenger ferry service was reduced to four routes: Ferry Building to Oakland Pier, Ferry Building to Alameda Pier, Hyde Street to Sausalito, and the Northwestern Pacific Ferry Building to Sausalito service. The route from Hyde Street to Sausalito was suspended in 1938 by order of the State Railroad Commission, the last ferry to Alameda ran in 1939, and the Ferry Building to Sausalito service ended February 1941.[14] Many of the large passenger ferries were idled until World War II, when they were mobilized by the federal government to transport military personnel around the bay and shipyard workers from San Francisco to Marinship and Richmond Shipyards. The last Southern Pacific ferry ran between Oakland and San Francisco on July 29, 1958.[15]

Auto ferries (1909–1956)

Ferry Cazadero in 1922

Although earlier ferries had carried teams and wagons, Melrose was launched in 1909 as the first San Francisco Bay ferry built with an unobstructed lower deck specifically intended for automobiles, and an upper deck for passengers. Southern Pacific ferries Melrose and Thoroughfare were designated to carry automobiles to and from San Francisco on the original Creek Route in 1911. Southern Pacific built new facilities to shift auto routing to the Oakland Pier in 1921 and purchased three new Six Minute ferries. In 1922, Golden Gate Ferry Company (GG) began transporting automobiles between Hyde Street Pier in San Francisco and Sausalito Ferry Terminal in Marin County. Southern Pacific purchased three more auto ferries with a ferry route linking San Francisco with a Richmond, California connection to the Lincoln Highway in 1925. Golden Gate established another route between Hyde Street and Berkeley Pier in 1927. Southern Pacific built six diesel-electric ferries and gained control of Golden Gate's Golden-prefix ferries to form the subsidiary Southern Pacific-Golden Gate Company in 1929. Another auto ferry pier operated at the foot of Broadway. Southern Pacific-Golden Gate auto ferries ceased operation shortly after the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge and Golden Gate Bridge opened. Most of the ferries were sold for use in Puget Sound, but a few were purchased by the Richmond-San Rafael Ferry Company to shuttle automobiles between Richmond and San Rafael. This last surviving auto ferry route ended when the Richmond–San Rafael Bridge opened in 1956.[16]

Cross-Bay air service (1914–1986)

In 1914, a short-lived seaplane ferry ran between San Francisco and Oakland. From 1930 to 1933, a more successful trans-Bay seaplane ferry was operated by Air Ferries Ltd. It ran from Pier 5 on the San Francisco waterfront to a shoreline barge docked at the foot of Franklin Street along the Oakland Estuary. It also operated between San Francisco and Vallejo. A fatal accident in 1933 put an end to the service.[17]

During the 1960s, SFO Helicopter transported passengers to and from the San Francisco and Oakland airports from various locales around the bay, including the San Francisco waterfront and the Berkeley Marina. After ceasing operations in the 1970s it briefly resumed service in 1983 before going out of business in 1986.[18][19]

Rebirth of ferries (1959–present)

Golden Gate Ferry Sonoma, approaching the San Francisco Ferry Building in 2007

With the abandonment of the last railroad ferries, there was a brief period 1958-1962 with no commuter ferry service at all on the Bay (though tourist-oriented service to Angel Island began in 1959[20]). In March 1962 Red & White Fleet, then known as Harbor Carriers,[21] started commute-hour ferry service from Tiburon to the San Francisco Ferry Building.[22] During a strike by Harbor Carriers employees in 1969, the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District chartered a boat to provide replacement service; the success of this experiment led the District to establish Golden Gate Ferry and begin operating service from Sausalito to the Ferry Building in 1970.[23][24] Today Golden Gate Ferry operates modern high speed ferryboats between San Francisco and four different landings in Marin County.

In 1973 Alcatraz Island opened to the public as a museum and ferry service from San Francisco began under a concession granted by the National Park Service.[25]

The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake caused a section of the Bay Bridge road deck to collapse, closing it to all traffic. In response, ferry service was quickly set up between piers in Oakland and Alameda and San Francisco (following almost the same path as the 19th-century "creek route" ferries). This service continued to operate with sponsorship from the City of Alameda and Port of Oakland after the bridge reopened the following month.[26]

In 2011 the San Francisco Bay Area Water Emergency Transportation Authority (WETA) was set up to take over the Oakland/Alameda route and other routes between San Francisco and the East Bay, forming the San Francisco Bay Ferry system; over the following decade it added several additional routes.[27] WETA contracts with the private Blue & Gold Fleet for the operation of these services. Blue & Gold additionally operates its own tourist-oriented ferry and sightseeing services; together these make the company the largest ferry transportation provider in the Bay Area as of 2022.[28]

Current ferry routes

San Francisco Bay Ferry Hydrus in 2017

Terminals Current operator Year begun Service notes

Sausalito ↔ San Francisco Ferry Building Golden Gate Ferry 1970[29]

Sausalito ↔ San Francisco Pier 41 Blue & Gold Fleet 1982[30] Mid-day hours only[31]

Tiburon ↔ San Francisco Ferry Building Golden Gate Ferry 1962[23]

Angel Island ↔ San Francisco Ferry Building Golden Gate Ferry 2021[29][a]

Angel Island ↔ Tiburon Angel Island–Tiburon Ferry 1959[20] Weekend-only in winter[34]

Larkspur ↔ San Francisco Ferry Building Golden Gate Ferry 1976[29]

Mare Island and

Vallejo ↔ San Francisco Ferry Building San Francisco Bay Ferry 1986[26][b]

Richmond ↔ San Francisco Ferry Building San Francisco Bay Ferry 2019[36]

Berkeley ↔ San Francisco Pier 1½ and

San Francisco Pier 52 Tideline 2017[37] Thursdays only, commute hours only[38]

Treasure Island ↔ San Francisco Ferry Building Prop SF 2022[39]

Alameda Main Street and

Oakland Jack London Square ↔ San Francisco Ferry Building San Francisco Bay Ferry 1989[26]

Alameda Main Street and

Oakland Jack London Square ↔ South San Francisco San Francisco Bay Ferry 2012[40] Weekday commute hours only[41]

Alameda Seaplane Lagoon ↔ San Francisco Ferry Building San Francisco Bay Ferry 2021[42] Weekdays only[43]

Alameda Harbor Bay ↔ San Francisco Ferry Building San Francisco Bay Ferry 1992[26] Weekdays only[44]

San Francisco Pier 41 ↔ San Francisco Ferry Building San Francisco Bay Ferry 2021[45][c] Weekends only[46]

Alcatraz Island ↔ San Francisco Pier 33 Hornblower Cruises 1973[25]

Annual ridership

FY* San Francisco Bay Ferry Golden Gate Ferry

Alameda/

Oakland Harbor Bay Richmond South San Francisco Vallejo/

Mare Island Alameda

Seaplane Larkspur Sausalito Tiburon

2006–07 443,000 130,000 — — 897,000 — 1,477,762 547,173

2007–08 459,000 145,000 848,000 1,414,588 565,255

2008–09 400,000 143,000 690,000 1,370,400 578,635

2009–10 421,000 147,000 682,000 1,338,764 583,331

2010–11 455,130 154,000 697,000 1,432,039 599,180

2011–12 545,393 177,159 5,141 668,770 1,526,375 669,039

2012–13 606,960 203,131 40,505 713,300 1,605,989 718,885

2013–14 821,633 246,695 84,098 826,445 1,677,050 793,533

2014–15 911,473 266,304 107,389 858,665 1,727,872 812,819

2015–16 1,149,085 311,313 125,946 959,939 1,753,484 791,638

2016–17 1,183,188 321,289 136,320 1,000,773 1,692,741 768,942 61,394

2017–18 1,311,041 332,283 144,735 1,056,342* 1,660,272 726,010 191,855

2018–19 1,384,300 355,713 84,576 142,749 1,081,665 1,644,783 629,954 195,467

2019–20 1,006,824 246,657 158,199 103,798 783,379 1,712,507 1,148,981 139,535

2020–21 102,482 — 24,688 137,328 — 89,861

2021–22 479,196 113,207 158,986 24,075 484,686 145,786 690,362

Sources:[47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57]

Ferryboat roster

Passenger Ferry General Frisbiein in 1909

Passenger Ferry Oakland (as the Chrysopolis) ran from 1875 to 1940

Present

Golden Gate (7 vessels)

Golden Gate (II)

Del Norte

Marin

Mendocino

Napa

San Francisco

Sonoma

WETA (16 vessels)

Argo

Bay Breeze

Carina

Cetus

Dorado

Gemini

Hydrus

Intintoli

Lyra

Mare Island

Peralta

Pisces

Pyxis

Scorpio

Taurus

Vela

Angel Island–Tiburon

Angel Island

Bonita

Tamalpais

Blue & Gold (20+ vessels)

Golden Bear

Oski

Royal Star

Zelinsky

Red & White (5 vessels)

Enhydra

Harbor Princess

Harbor Queen

Royal Prince

Zalophus

NWP[citation needed]

Ukiah

Past

Historical ferryboat table

Relocated ferryboats

Several ferries that had seen service on San Francisco Bay were relocated after the bay bridges were built. Yosemite was sold to the Argentina-Uruguayan Navigation Touring Company, renamed Argentina, and served a route crossing the Rio de la Plata. Seventeen were purchased by the Puget Sound Navigation Company:[58]

City of Sacramento

Fresno (renamed Willapa)[68]

Golden Age (renamed Klahanie)

Golden Bear

Golden Dawn

Golden Poppy (renamed Chetzemoka)

Golden Shore (renamed Elwha)

Golden State (renamed Kehloken)

Golden West

Lake Tahoe (renamed Illahee)

Mendocino (renamed Nisqually)

Napa Valley (renamed Malahat)

Peralta (renamed Kalakala)

Redwood Empire (renamed Quinault)

San Mateo

Santa Rosa (renamed Enetai)

Shasta

Stockton (renamed Klickitat)

Golden West was promptly resold to San Diego and renamed North Island for service between San Diego and Coronado. Golden Bear was salvaged for parts after being damaged when a towline parted off the Oregon coast on 15 November 1937. The others went on to serve in the waters of northwestern Washington and southwestern British Columbia. After serving seven years as Elwha, Golden Shore was sold to San Diego in 1944 and renamed Silver Strand on the San Diego-Coronado route.[58] The City of Sacramento operated on the Seattle-Bremerton route in the 1940s, then on the Horseshoe Bay-Nanaimo route from 1952 to 1963 as the MV Kahloke, and finally on the Horseshoe Bay-Langdale route from 1964 to 1976 as the MV Langdale Queen. The Peralta, rebuilt as the MV Kalakala, operated on various Puget Sound crossings and on the Seattle-Victoria-Port Angeles route. The City of Long Beach, renamed the City of Angeles, operated out of Port Angeles and the Stockton, which became the Klickitat, operated on the Keystone-Port Townsend route until 2007. Mendocino (renamed Quinault) and Redwood Empire (renamed Nisqually) were retired in 2003 and scrapped in 2009. Santa Rosa was renamed Enetai, returned to San Francisco Bay in 1968, and is preserved at Pier 3.[9]