Richmond Ferry Terminal (historically Ellis Landing) is a former ferry terminal located in the Marina Bay neighborhood of Richmond, California.
Contents
History
Specifically, the terminal is located at Ford Point on the Richmond Inner Harbor which opens onto the East Bay of San Francisco Bay. Ford Point derives its name from the historic Ford Plant that is located nearby which is now being converted to an industrial park.
The terminal hosted a commuter ferry service to the San Francisco Ferry Building weekdays and Fisherman's Wharf on weekends in addition to special Giant's Ballpark service during the baseball season. The voyage took approximately 45 minutes one-way. The service began in 1999, but was discontinued in the late 2000s in the economic downturn following the dot-com bust. Ferry ridership plummeted and the service became economically unsustainable, which led Red and White Fleet to discontinue the service. In fact the average ridership was 45 per trip and about 200 were needed for fiscal sustainability.
The terminal had its own dedicated AC Transit feeder service from Point Richmond and downtown Richmond with route 374 also now discontinued.
Future plans
In 2007 most of the Richmond City Council except Tom Butt and Mayor Gayle McLaughlin have lost interest in the project, instead supporting using the site for expanded Toyota vehicle importation parking which that company has expressed an interest in.
The impetus for the reinstated ferry service continued in 2008 when the powers behind planning the project determined that there needed to be 750 "rooftops" within a half mile of the terminal site to generate significant and sustainable ridership figures. Senator Don Perata has secured 2 million dollars in monies from California State Proposition 1B for studies of several ferry proposals including new Richmond-San Francisco service; the Richmond study is planned to commence in the summer of 2008.
In 2012 WETA rebranded as the San Francisco Bay Ferry began operation of its first new ferry run, the South San Francisco Ferry and as such began exploring opportunities for additional new services was launched. Planning meetings were held to reopen and remodel the terminal at the Craneway Pavilion in Richmond's Marina Bay. A public comment period found that there were concerns for walking distance between ferry and parking and also bicycle parking. An environmental review was ordered to last up to nine months. Funding was approved in 2015, with service then expected to begin in 2018.
In April 2016, the San Francisco Ferry building secured a $4 million federal grant. The funds will be used for construction, beginning in 2017, of new berths, to be ready for ferry service to Richmond beginning as early as 2018.