Few are riding Oakland-South S.F. ferry

The ferry service from Oakland to South San Francisco carried an average of just 131 riders a day in a recent week. The ferry service from Oakland to South San Francisco carried an average of just 131 riders a day in a recent week. Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Few are riding Oakland-South S.F. ferry 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

The much-heralded ferry service between Oakland and South San Francisco - launched just nine months ago at a cost to taxpayers of more than $42 million - is taking on water fast.

The service, which operates seven trips each weekday, carried an average of just 131 total riders a day in the last week of February. That's less than a third of what officials were counting on during the ferries' first year on the bay.

The service operates with a $2.3 million annual subsidy from bridge tolls, but in its first seven months, it took in a mere $145,300 in fares. Unless ridership picks up substantially, that subsidy could be yanked two years from now.

Now, in an effort to boost ridership, the ferry operator - the Water Emergency Transportation Authority - wants to spend another $230,000 to add a third afternoon trip to the East Bay and two midday trips a week between South San Francisco and Pier 41 on the city's northern waterfront. The idea on that one is to lure recreational travelers and school groups.

"It would be a mistake not to make every effort to make it successful," said agency board member Anthony Intintoli Jr. of Vallejo, noting how that city's ferry service turned around after an early struggle.

"It's certainly doable, and we're positive about it," said Ernest Sanchez, the agency's marketing boss.

The South San Francisco line was never expected to be a moneymaker, or even to break even. Even with the ferry authority's optimistic projections of 100,000 riders a year, the line would still need to be publicly subsidized to the tune of $47 a ride.

But given the current ridership, the public cost of a single ride comes in at more than $100.

And they don't even give out free coffee.

Wall to wall: The election isn't for another eight months, but already San Francisco voters are getting mailers and robocalls from former Mayor Art Agnos, urging them to defeat the proposed 8 Washington condo development.

"We want to define what this fight is about early on, before the big money starts pouring in," said Jon Golinger, who is running the campaign to stop the high-end condos from going up along the Embarcadero.

Agnos, who got the quake-damaged Embarcadero Freeway torn down when he was mayor in the 1990s, opposes the condos because he likes an open waterfront. Some of his well-heeled allies, such as Boston Properties, which owns the Embarcadero Center next to the 8 Washington site, don't want to lose the ability to charge for top-dollar views.

The would-be builders of 8 Washington - which include the California teachers pension fund - aren't wasting any time, either. They have already signed up Ace Smith, who managed Ed Lee's mayoral campaign, to run the "yes" side.

Pay later: Furloughing state workers during the recent bad budget times saved the state about $5 billion - but at a price.

According to a new legislative analyst's report, the state will spend about $1 billion over the next few years as workers cash out on the stacks of unused vacation time they accumulated as a result of the forced days off without pay.

Basically, workers used the unpaid days as vacation and banked their paid vacation days - which they'll be able to cash out when they leave state employment.

Recycled: Restore Hetch Hetchy is back from its November ballot defeat in San Francisco with a new poll that the group hopes will keep the idea of emptying the Yosemite reservoir alive.

According to the poll of 750 California voters, conducted over five days last month, 48 percent support a legislative move to revoke San Francisco's long-standing federal water rights if Hetch Hetchy is not restored. Forty-three percent would support a statewide ballot initiative to revoke the city's water rights.

Not exactly a big mandate.

Still, Restore Hetch Hetchy leader Mike Marshall - whose group is funded by deep-pocketed environmentalists - says the results are encouraging enough to press ahead on a number of fronts.

"Yes, you will see us walking the halls of the Capitol in Sacramento, and the halls of the Capitol in Washington," Marshall said.

While they may pursue a statewide initiative, they still haven't given up on persuading San Francisco to change its water ways and drain Hetch Hetchy.

"At some point," Marshall said, "we will probably go back to the San Francisco voters" - the same ones who drowned last year's measure calling for a Hetch Hetchy restoration study by 77 percent to 23 percent.

The take from Mayor Ed Lee's spokesman Tony Winnicker: "They're 'true believers' who will never let go of their fantasies, no matter what the cost."