Locale San Francisco Bay Area No. of lines 4 Transit type Ferry | Began operation August 15, 1970 No. of vessels 7 | |
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Waterway San Francisco Bay (North Bay) Owner Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District Operator Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District Profiles | ||
Golden gate ferry workers on strike may 26 2012
Golden Gate Ferry is one of three transportation systems owned and operated by the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District. The other two are the Golden Gate Bridge and Golden Gate Transit bus service. Golden Gate Ferry connects San Francisco to Marin County, California. Funding for the ferry service is composed primarily of passenger fares and bridge toll subsidies.
Contents
Service area
Golden Gate Ferry serves Larkspur, Sausalito, and Tiburon in Marin County and San Francisco.
Routes
Golden Gate Ferry operates regular passenger ferry service on three routes:
It also operates limited service from Larkspur to AT&T Park for all San Francisco Giants baseball home games. Supplemental service is provided for special events.
Service to Sausalito began in 1970, and service to Larkspur started in 1976. Service to AT&T Park started in 2000. Most recently, service to Tiburon began on 6 March 2017.
Schedules
Note: Schedule information listed below is current as of 6 March 2017. The Larkspur and Sausalito routes provide expanded service during the summer.
On weekday mornings, one trip each on Golden Gate Transit Routes 24 and 97 provide supplemental service before the first ferry departure from the Larkspur Ferry Terminal to the San Francisco Financial District.
Holidays include Presidents' Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, and Labor Day. No service operates on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day. A reduced schedule operates on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, the Day after Thanksgiving, and on the days around Christmas and New Year's Day.
Transfer connections
The Larkspur Ferry Terminal is served by Golden Gate Transit Route 25. The Larkspur Ferry Shuttle is timed to meet ferry crossings during weekday commute hours. Additional service is provided by Marin Transit Routes 17, 29, and 228, which stop on East Sir Francis Drake Boulevard in front of the terminal.
The Sausalito Ferry Landing is served by Golden Gate Transit Routes 2, 30, and 92, which pick up on Bridgeway. Additional service is provided by Marin Transit Routes 17, 61, 66F, and 71X, which pick up on Bay Street.
The Tiburon Ferry Landing is served by Golden Gate Transit Route 8, which picks up on Tiburon Boulevard. Additional service is provided by Marin Transit Routes 219 and 219F.
The San Francisco Ferry Building is served by numerous Muni bus and streetcar lines and several San Francisco Bay Ferry lines.
Fares
Golden Gate Ferry fares differ by route, passenger type, and method of payment. Fares are effective 6 March 2017.
Youths are ages 5 through 18. Seniors are ages 65 and over. Up to 2 children ages 4 and under ride free when accompanied by an adult.
Transfers to/from Golden Gate Transit
Transfers from Golden Gate Ferry to Golden Gate Transit are available only with the use of a Clipper card. Transfers from Golden Gate Transit to Golden Gate Ferry are available with cash or use of a Clipper card. Transfers are valid for 4 hours for inter-county travel. Transfers may be used up to 3 times to complete a one-way journey.
Transfers to/from Muni
Free transfers to and from San Francisco Muni were discontinued in 2010. Instead, passengers must use a Clipper card to take advantage of the following transfer opportunities:
From ferry to Muni: Adult Clipper customers receive a $0.50 credit on their Muni Clipper fare (e-cash only); youth, senior, and disabled Clipper customers are not covered by the transfer credit.
From Muni to ferry: Clipper customers receive a $0.50 credit ($0.25 credit for youth/senior/disabled) on their GGF Clipper fare.
Fleet
The first vessel to provide ferry service was the M.S. Golden Gate. Before she was retired in 2004, she made 42,108 round trips between Sausalito and San Francisco, carried 21 million passengers and steamed nearly 1.3 million nautical miles (2,400,000 km; 1,500,000 mi), the equivalent of about 45 times around the world.
Golden Gate Ferry has four catamarans and three Spaulding monohull vessels in service today.
The Spaulding vessels are named M.S. Marin, M.S. San Francisco, and M.S. Sonoma. The Marin can carry 750 passengers, and the San Francisco and Sonoma can carry 630 passengers each. They were purchased from Philip F. Spaulding & Associates in San Diego in 1976–1977. They were originally powered by gas turbine water jets but were converted to diesel engine propeller drives in 1983–1985. More efficient diesel engines were installed in 2001 and 2002.
The catamarans are M.V. Del Norte (purchased 1998, 400 passengers), M.V. Golden Gate (purchased 2009, 450 passengers), M.V. Mendocino (purchased 2001, 450 passengers), and M.V. Napa (purchased 2009, 450 passengers).
All ferries are wheelchair accessible () and can carry bicycles; the catamarans can carry 15 bicycles, the Marin can carry 100 bicycles, and the San Francisco and Sonoma can carry 25 bicycles. All ferries have on-board refreshments, including a full bar with mixed drinks.
The M.S. Marin underwent a full refurbishment in November 2006, including all new seating, paint, deck covering and carpeting, ceilings and wall paneling, lighting, PA system, restrooms, refreshment stand, security cameras, windows, bicycle racks, generator and electrical systems, and modern wheelchair lift. It re-entered service in July 2007.
Golden Gate Ferry purchased two catamarans from Washington State Ferries in January 2009. The M.V. Snohomish was renamed M.V. Napa and entered service in May 2009. The M.V. Chinook was renamed M.V. Golden Gate, underwent refurbishing, and entered service in May 2011. The M.V. Napa underwent refurbishment starting in late 2009.