Fleet faced serious mechanical issues in January and early February
As frequent riders have likely noticed, San Francisco Bay Ferry faced serious reliability issues in January and early February. Here’s an update on the state of the fleet and where it stands going forward.
Beginning in late December, several vessels experienced mechanical issues, shrinking the size of the SF Bay ready fleet. “We need 11 vessels to operate our full weekday schedule and seven to operate on weekends,” SF Bay Ferry officials stated in a press release. “Some mechanical issues were minor failures easily repaired within a couple of hours. Some of the issues were more serious, requiring major repairs and specialized support.”
These problems led to 59 cancellations in January. “Our operations team did everything in its power to minimize disruption on peak-direction trips by shifting crews around and even bringing in a non-SF Bay Ferry vessel to help supplement service,” the release stated. “These cancellations represented 1.3% of all SF Bay Ferry trips in January.”
Acknowledging that every cancellation is a huge inconvenience for riders, ferry officials said they are committed to improving reliability in the fleet and creatively solving problems. In addition, they noted, MV Delphinus—the 17th ferry in the fleet—will come online within the next two weeks, helping to add some resilience.
Because mechanical issues will occasionally happen at inopportune times, leading to service disruptions, the ferry service encourages all riders to sign up for text messages or email alerts for the routes and days they use the ferry. SF Bay Ferry also invites riders to provide feedback.
