WETA includes Antioch ferry stop in Vision 2050

A vision for water transportation and emergency response in the San Francisco Bay

By Allen D. Payton

The Bay Area Water Emergency Transportation Authority (WETA) Board of Directors adopted the 2050 Service Expansion Vision and Policy at its meeting on Thursday, May 9, and the plan includes A future, possible station for Antioch, as well as Pittsburg, Martinez and Hercules. Additional route for the existing Richmond terminal, which currently provides Contra Costa County’s only ferry service.

The plan includes two tiers, with the four additional Contra Costa terminals on Tier 2 and will be added based on demand and current technological barriers to service.

The Vision explains that first, “WETA will improve the frequency of existing routes to continue to develop markets for all-day service. » Next, “WETA will grow by implementing the map’s Tier 1 projects, including priority regional projects such as those included in the regional plans – including Mission Bay and Treasure Island to the San Francisco Ferry Building, Berkeley to San Francisco and Oakland to Redwood City. .”

This will be followed by WETA exploring “the development of Tier 2 projects from the board to further extend the reach of the ferry system as market demand matures and technologies evolve to overcome current barriers to operational service” .

In the plan, “WETA will provide a minimum of three types of services on the ferry network: local service consisting of short-distance routes connecting dense urban hubs; Regional service consisting of medium and long distance trips connecting activity centers; and special events service for major locations with existing terminals.

Additionally, “WETA will electrify the ferry system to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”

According to their website, “Water transportation is an essential part of life in the San Francisco Bay Area. WETA has developed a shared vision for the San Francisco Bay Area ferry system in 2050, including the level of service and scope of WETA’s ferry operations and emergency response.

This “Service Vision” outlines how WETA will operate in the future and what changes will need to be made to achieve this. The vision will serve as the foundation of WETA’s business plan, which will outline specific strategies and actions required to achieve Service Vision 2050. The strategies and objectives are divided into six focus areas.

This service visioning effort is a unique opportunity to reimagine water transportation and address emerging priorities regarding the environment, equity, economic development, emergency response, and quality of life throughout the region. the Bay.

According to the staff report on agenda item 11, the plan was “developed to define a long-term service vision based on feedback from agency stakeholders, the public and other parties interested in the future of the agency. The goal of this project is to create clear direction for the agency and its staff regarding future expansion efforts, prioritize the use of limited funds, identify resource needs, and assist to build a broad coalition to advocate for future investments in the regional ferry network. The WETA Board of Directors received a presentation on a draft policy at its last meeting in April 2024. Following that meeting, staff incorporated feedback from directors into the final service vision and policy. expansion for 2050, including more detailed information on emergency response and first and last mile connections. .

In an initial stakeholder and public outreach effort in 2021, staff identified six areas of focus

to be taken into consideration in the business plan. These include:

1. Regional ferry network

2. Emergency response

3. Environmental management

4. Community Connections

5. Organizational capacity

6. Financial capacity

At Business Plan Workshop #1 held in August 2022, the Board of Directors identified a set of network expansion concepts to consider in defining a service vision for 2050 Staff undertook a technical assessment of these concepts and conducted extensive stakeholder and public engagement to create a proposal to develop a draft 2050 Service Vision which was presented to Council at Workshop #. 2 in April 2023.

After being directed by Council to look more broadly at opportunities to expand the ferry network, staff worked with its consulting team to incorporate that feedback into an updated draft of the 2050 service vision and a set of feasibility criteria for future expansion projects.

The draft service vision and feasibility criteria were refined after review with key project stakeholders, community and business advisory groups, and WETA’s Business Plan Subcommittee. A consistent source of feedback during the outreach process has been support for a WETA pilot program to test the feasibility of new technologies and emerging markets. The product of this process is the final service vision and expansion policy for 2050.”

The vision also includes rehabilitating and replacing the terminal, improving access to the terminal, encouraging transit-friendly land use in the immediate vicinity of each candidate ferry terminal, and intervening ’emergency. “WETA serves as the coordinator of water-based emergency response activities in the Bay Area in the event of a major disaster or disruptive event. In this capacity, WETA will work closely with the California Office of Emergency Services and/or the United States Coast Guard and will be responsible for carrying out regionally and state-wide coordinated activities. ‘State. This includes deploying WETA’s fleet assets to evacuate hazardous areas, relocate first responders and deliver needed supplies. WETA will coordinate with other regional shipping partners to complement this fleet response, and terminal facilities must have sufficient capacity and facilities to accommodate these partner vessels. All new expansion terminals must be designed and constructed to critical facility standards. Emergency service to individual terminals will be guided based on state and regional guidelines.

In addition to Thursday’s meeting, WETA hosted a public board workshop on Department Vision 2050 in April. The Department Vision Assessment Memo and presentation slides are available here:

This is the summary report of the public inquiry, first published in May 2023.

To learn more about the project, visit the Bay Ferry 2050 microsite where you can subscribe to updates, share your feedback and more.

attachments to this post:

WETA Services Vision 2050 Map – CoCoCo

This entry was posted on Friday, May 10, 2024 at 4:39 p.m. and filed under Bay Area, East County, News, Transportation, Water. You can follow responses to this entry via the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a reply or trackback from your own site.