EXTRA FERRY SERVICE, SPECIAL SCENIC ROUTE AVAILABLE FOR FLEET WEEK

Fleet Week is on, and San Francisco Bay Ferry is ready to get you to all of the weekend festivities on October 7-8.

San Francisco Bay Ferry will run extra service on the Vallejo, Oakland & Alameda, and Pier 41 Short Hop routes on both Saturday, October 7 and Sunday, October 8. Fleet Week typically brings the highest ferry ridership of the year for the system, with some 26,000 passengers over the two days in 2022.

In addition, a brand new pilot route – the Richmond Scenic – will be offered for the first time on both Saturday and Sunday. This trip leaves from the Richmond Ferry Terminal at 3 PM. It will take a more leisurely route to the Downtown San Francisco Ferry Terminal, with close views of Angel Island, Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge before landing in San Francisco at 4 PM. Great views of the Fleet Week Air Show and a cool bay breeze are on offer with this trip, too. The Richmond Scenic is first come, first served and may hit maximum capacity, so we encourage passengers to arrive to Richmond early. After landing in Downtown S.F., all passengers will be required to clear the vessel. A ferry back to Richmond will depart at 4:30 PM from Gate F.

Normal schedules will be in effect on weekdays during Fleet Week. We encourage ferry riders seeking to get to the Pier 39/Fisherman’s Wharf area for the Air Show on Friday to take the ferry to Downtown S.F. and either transfer to Muni Metro’s F-Wharves streetcar line or walk roughly 25 minutes along Embarcadero.

Full Fleet Week schedules are available at sanfranciscobayferry.com/fleet-week-2023. 

FREE WATERFRONT FERRY TOURS AT VALLEJO WATERFRONT WEEKEND

San Francisco Bay Ferry is proud to provide free waterfront ferry tours at the 2023 Vallejo Waterfront Weekend on Saturday, October 7.

Bring the family or your friends down to the Vallejo Ferry Terminal on Saturday, October 7 for a ton of fun activities including free ferry tours of the Vallejo waterfront. We’ll have local historians on board to provide passengers interesting tales of Vallejo and Mare Island’s past.

The tours leave the Vallejo Ferry Terminal at 12:45 PM, 1:35 PM and 2:25 PM. Boarding is first come, first served. Each tour will be approximately 45 minutes.

There’s lots more happening at Vallejo Waterfront Weekend this year, too: live music, whale boat races, a kids’ zone, the famous Ducky Derby, great food, a beer and wine garden and much more.

All Waterfront Ferry Tours this year are free of charge. Normal ferry rides to and from San Francisco require payment.

REMINDER: MAIN ST. ALAMEDA CLOSURE BEGINS OCT. 23

The Main Street Alameda Ferry Terminal will be closed for refurbishment from October 23, 2023 through January 1, 2024. During this time, ferries will not stop at this terminal.

During the closure:

• Downtown S.F. bound riders will use the Alameda Seaplane Lagoon Ferry Terminal (1701 Ferry Point Rd). Weekday and limited weekend service will be available during the closure.
• Ferries to South San Francisco will only be available out of the Oakland Ferry Terminal (10 Clay St). Ferries will NOT stop at the Main Street Alameda Terminal. Free validated parking is available at Washington St. Garage near the Oakland Ferry Terminal.
• The Alameda Short Hop will be suspended. Ferry service between Alameda and Oakland will not be operating during this schedule period.
• Ferry service to Chase Center will only be available from the Oakland Ferry Terminal (10 Clay St). Ferries will NOT stop at the Main Street Alameda Terminal. Reservations are strongly recommended.

The Main Street Alameda Ferry Terminal Refurbishment Project is a major construction project that includes the repair and replacement of the existing aging terminal infrastructure to bring the site into compliance with current seismic safety requirements. Design elements also prepare the terminal for future fleet electrification needs. Upon completion of the project, passengers will see direct benefits like more efficient ferry operations and modernized terminal lighting.

Effective January 2, 2024, service at Main Street Alameda is planned to resume on the Oakland & Alameda, South San Francisco, Alameda Short Hop, Oracle Park and Chase Center ferry routes. More details will become available closer to that date.

To learn more about this closure and these service changes visit sanfranciscobayferry.com/msa-closure. 

WETA, PARTNERS TRAIN FOR EMERGENCIES IN BAY FERRY VI EXERCISE

Over four days in September, WETA joined Golden Gate Ferry, U.S. Coast Guard-Sector San Francisco and local law enforcement agencies in the sixth Bay Ferry Emergency Preparedness Exercise. The program led participants through timed scenarios requiring local authorities to demonstrate their ability to support the implementation of emergency response and security plans on passenger ferries.

Simulated scenarios included an active shooter at a ferry terminal, an active shooter while a ferry is underway, and an explosion on a ferry, resulting in mass casualties and an engine fire. The detonation exercise required law enforcement agencies to practice evacuating volunteers acting as passengers from one vessel, Golden Gate Ferry’s MV San Francisco, to MV Argo of the San Francisco Bay Ferry fleet. First responders and ferry operators engaged in response planning, tactical boardings, hostage response, and other emergency response protocols.



By participating in these active threat simulations, WETA aims to assist in determining objective assessments of Bay Area maritime emergency preparedness to identify program strengths and areas in need of improvement. WETA is proud to coordinate and train with the Bay Area’s emergency agencies to keep passengers safe on the Bay.

CHASE CENTER FERRY TICKETS NOW AVAILABLE FOR WARRIORS HOME GAMES

Ferry tickets for all Golden State Warriors home games in the 2023-24 season are now on sale.

San Francisco Bay Ferry will offer direct service to and from Chase Center (Pier 48.5) for all Warriors home preseason and regular season games. Service will be limited to Oakland only from October 23 through January 1 during the Main St. Alameda Ferry Terminal closure. All other games will have service connecting both Oakland and Main St. Alameda.

Adult ferry tickets are $10.50 each way. Youth, senior and disabled riders are $8 each way. Ferry service does sell out, so early reservations are strongly recommended. Pier 48.5 is about a 12-minute walk from the arena. Free parking is available at both the Oakland and Main St. Alameda terminals.

Fans can buy their reserved ferry tickets at sanfranciscobayferry.com/warriors.