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Solution to valley traffic congestion: ferries at Moffett?
By Kelly Wilkinson
The plan to alleviate Bay Area congestion with an elaborate system of high-speed commuter ferries ran into criticism at an April 12 public forum at NASA/Ames.
For the past year, members of the Bay Area Water Transit Initiative have been examining the potential for a vast ferry system in the bay that could ultimately provide a more eco-friendly commute between the South Bay, East Bay, North Bay, and San Francisco while attempting to reduce rush-hour gridlock.
The ferry proposal would incorporate between 35 and 40 potential terminals throughout the bay, with up to 30 routes served by 120 high-speed vessels. The proposal would cost an estimated $60 million and take 20 years to complete.
At last week's meeting, residents questioned the feasibility and effectiveness of the plan. They also raised concerns about using Moffett and Alviso as the southernmost terminals.
Bill Berry, deputy director of NASA/Ames research center, said the only plausible location for a port at Moffett is on the far northeast end of the property, which is not very accessible and would require dredging through the salt flats. It is also a considerable distance to any type of light rail, which would have to be expanded to provide effective links for the travelers.
Berry said that the problems are all able to be dealt with, but he remains a bit skeptical about the amount of effort and money required.
"If they can do all the site improvements and generate enough ridership, it makes it reasonable, and for us, it gives our employees another way to get to work--which we're all for." he said.
Both the Alviso and Moffett sites also raise environmental concerns about dredging and wildlife habitats, since the bay becomes shallow in some areas and Moffett is surrounded by wetlands and wildlife refuge areas.
The Bay Area Transit Initiative is a 52-member task force headed by Ron Cowan with Oakland mayor Jerry Brown and San Francisco mayor Willie Brown serving as vice chairs. Councilmember Julia Miller represents Sunnyvale on the team. They formed in 1998 after the California State Senate unanimously passed a resolution to create a task force to make recommendations about an expanded ferry system's operations and funding.
The task force is meeting once more in San Francisco and will then present its findings to the state Legislature. Since the ferry proposal would require some type of public funding which has yet to be determined, some form of public approval would be necessary, which is not expected to take place before 2000.
Some members of the audience also questioned how effective the proposal would be in alleviating the Bay Area's congestion. Dawn Cameron, transportation policy and program manager for the Santa Clara County Valley Transportation Authority, said more than 80 percent of the people who live in the South Bay also work there. And that figure is projected to change just a few percentage points over the next 20 years.
Fremont mayor Gus Morrison proposed that the ferry system is slanted more toward serving San Francisco and Oakland rather than the north and south Bays, citing the majority of Santa Clara County commuters who only travel within the county, and BART's accessibility for residents in southern Alameda County.
Morrison told the task force that they were asking the wrong question, saying that a world-class transportation system should "include a series of things," and not rely entirely on the proposed ferries alone.
"We need a system that will get people to work reliably, comfortably and quickly," he said, speaking of a highspeed rail operation that would serve as the spine of a transportation network. "Not a whole lot of little pieces that don't work together."
Still, Joel Suty, executive committee member and the retired vice president of Lockheed Martin Missiles and Space, said some solution must be found and that it may exist offshore.
"The Greater Bay Area simply has to have a comprehensive transportation system," said Joel Suty, adding that Silicon Valley workers are currently losing 34,000 hours per day on the roadways. "Commuters coming in from outside the valley funnel into that same fixed system and clog up the roads. Additionally, Santa Clara County transports over 800 tons of cargo daily to SFO. Imagine eliminating those trucks and instead using ferry service from Moffett. We need to look beyond our existing modes of transportation and carefully study the only other transportation alternative to our debilitating roadways--the San Francisco Bay."
Miller remains optimistic about the proposal, despite some of the sticking points raised at the forum.
"Time is of the essence here in Silicon Valley," she said, "and this is a really smart way to get cars off the roads."
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Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
