SF Bay ferry service on brink of major expansion

New steel pilings are seen from water as construction continues on the expansion of the ferry terminal in San Francisco, Calif. Wednesday, December 13, 2017. New steel pilings are seen from water as construction continues on the expansion of the ferry terminal in San Francisco, Calif. Wednesday, December 13, 2017. Photo: Mason Trinca, Special To The Chronicle Photo: Mason Trinca, Special To The Chronicle Image 1 of / 8 Caption Close SF Bay ferry service on brink of major expansion 1 / 8 Back to Gallery

In a region where the daily commute can be a soul-ravaging exercise in traffic gridlock or overstuffed railcars, the 154 sparkling white piles poking out of the water just south of the San Francisco Ferry Building offer a glimmer of hope.

Those piles, pounded 150 feet into the dense bay sand, represent the foundation of a major expansion of Bay Area ferry service, a mode of transportation that most people find delightful, but few are in a position to use regularly.

The $74 million expansion of the ferry terminal, with the first phase set to be completed late next year, will triple the number of ferries that can stream in and out of downtown San Francisco, according to the Water Emergency Transportation Authority, which operates ferries between San Francisco, the East Bay and the Peninsula.

It will also create the infrastructure needed for new routes to Richmond, Treasure Island, Berkeley, Redwood City and San Francisco’s Mission Bay. The terminal in Richmond is under construction while the others are in the planning stages. The authority currently has stops in San Francisco, Vallejo, Oakland, Alameda and South San Francisco. Another organization, Golden Gate Ferry, provides service to Marin County.

Ridership of the authority’s ferries has grown 78 percent since 2012, and is expected to continue to grow with the Bay Area’s population. About 10,000 people ride those ferries each day. Michael Gougherty, a senior planner who is heading up the San Francisco expansion, compared the project to a much smaller and water-focused version of the Transbay Terminal, the transit hub opening next year at First and Mission streets.

“We have been in a situation on our busiest routes where we are leaving people behind,” said Gougherty. “It’s a good problem, but it’s a problem.”

The regulatory approvals required to build on the water adjacent to busy downtown San Francisco were formidable, according to the contractor, Power Engineering and Construction in Alameda. Besides the Port of San Francisco, the project required approvals from the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission, the San Francisco Regional Water Quality Control Board, the State Historic Preservation Office, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and other agencies.

To avoid disrupting the herring spawning season, which starts in December, the work crew had just six months, from June to November, to dredge the turning basin area, demolish the condemned Pier 2, where the restaurant Sinbad’s had been located, and drive the piles that will support two new ferry gates, a promenade behind the State Agriculture Building at 101 The Embarcadero and a half-acre plaza where passengers will wait to board.

Working on a network of floating barges just south of the Ferry Building, about 40 workers used 67,000-pound vibratory hammers to drive the piles, which weighed a combined 2.3 million pounds. Laborers built temporary platforms — known as “falsework” — to have a dry stable place to work from. “We had 11 barges and tugs out there at one point,” said David Mik, president of Power Engineering. “It’s a pretty tight little site. It was a balancing act.”

Under the agreement with the ferry authority, the contractor agreed the work would not impact traffic along the Embarcadero, nor could it interfere with existing ferry traffic.

When the two new gates open late next year, workers will turn their attention to “Gate E,” which is being used but is badly in need of rehab. The entire project will be wrapped up by the end of 2019.

Long-term solutions to traffic congestion will involve a second Transbay Tube, Gougherty said, but a project like that is unlikely to be completed before 2037.

“There are clear long-term solutions — adding BART capacity — but what do you do in the short and medium term?” he said. “You are not going to build another bridge. You are not going to add another BART tube for another 20 years. So ferries present an option. There is plenty of capacity on the bay. It’s a flexible investment because you can put the boats where they are needed.”

Emily Loper, policy director for the Bay Area Council, an advocate for beefed-up ferry service, said her organization has pushed to have $300 million for ferry infrastructure included in Regional Measure 3, a bridge toll increase ballot measure that could be before voters next June.

“There is a compelling case to be made that ferry service can make a significant impact, taking pressure off other transit systems,” said Loper.

The expanded ferry terminal in San Francisco will “serve as a cornerstone of a large vision for expanded water transport service,” she added.

“The Bay Area is suffering from the worst traffic crisis in history, and people increasingly are looking toward more convenient and congestion-free means of transportation,” Loper added. “Every month when WEDA reports ridership numbers it’s always breaking new records.”

Ferry commuters tend to be a passionate bunch — and very much on top of the improvements. Howard Ashcraft, an attorney who has been taking the ferry between Alameda and downtown San Francisco since the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989, said the service has been gradually improving with faster and more comfortable boats and more consistent and frequent service.

“It’s a hell of a lot better than it was that first day,” Ashcraft said. “The early boats had no bike parking and they were slow and small and creaky.”

The expanded terminal will allow for more convenience and flexibility, he said.

“Ideally you get to the point where nobody has to look at a schedule because they know it’s there and dependable,” he said.

Ashcraft travels for work frequently and said that people “get green with envy when I tell people what my commute is.”

“If you gotta commute, it’s a pretty good way to do it,” he said.

Photographer Nico Ovid takes the ferry daily from Jack London Square in Oakland to his job near Oyster Point in South San Francisco. He said he is a recent convert to ferry travel, but an enthusiastic one.

“I will bend myself over backwards to avoid any other way of traveling,” he said. “It sounds like a cliche but it’s true: My commute has gone from the worst part of my day to the best part.”

J.K. Dineen is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jdineen@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @sfjkdineen