MEMORANDUM August 7, 2014 TO: MEMBERS, PORT COMMISSION Hon. Leslie Katz, President Hon. Willie Adams, Vice President Hon. Kimberly Brandon Hon. Mel Murphy Hon. Doreen Woo Ho FROM: Monique Moyer Executive Director SUBJECT: Informational Presentation on Water Landing Opportunities in San Francisco DIRECTOR'S RECOMMENDATION: Informational Only – No Action Required EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Water taxis are a popular form of transportation at many of the world’s major cities, and San Francisco’s waterfront offers many unique opportunities for utilizing such a service. This memorandum describes the Port’s ongoing efforts to support and foster the growth of water taxi service on San Francisco Bay, including research and analysis performed by Port staff and consultants, and outlines a preliminary vision for its expansion over the next 5-10 years. BACKGROUND In 2012 the Port completed a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) process which led to the selection of the two current water taxi operators, Tideline Marine Group and San Francisco Water Taxi. Both companies are now operating, and provide two different services. San Francisco Water Taxi provides regularly scheduled “hop-on / hop-off” service along the San Francisco Waterfront. Tideline provides on-call service, primarily from San Francisco to the North Bay and East Bay. Port staff has been working with the operators to provide ongoing support as they seek to grow their respective businesses and as the Port seeks to expand this maritime use of Port property. These efforts include addressing operational issues; for example, one THIS PRINT COVERS CALENDAR ITEM NO. 8C such issue is the ability to protect and enforce the landing rights of the licensed operators. At times, particularly during events such as Fleet Week which attracts a large number of small craft to the waterfront, recreational boaters have occupied dock space designated as a water taxi landing, and Port staff is working with the operators and facilities managers to resolve such conflicts. Port staff also continues to work with the two operators to improve the public’s awareness of their respective services, through signage and other programmatic efforts, including the recently installed banners near the three landing sites. Currently, there are three water taxi landing sites on Port property, served by both operators. A fourth water taxi berth is planned to open by the end of 2015 at Pier 15.1 The existing landing sites are all located north of China Basin, and are spread out along the waterfront serving the following subareas and attractions: Table 1: Existing Water Taxi Landing Sites Location Subarea Major Attractions Pier 40 South Beach / China Basin AT&T Park, South Beach Harbor Pier 1½ Ferry Building Area Ferry Building, Financial District Hyde Street Harbor Fisherman’s Wharf Aquatic Park, Jefferson Street, Pier 39, Aquarium of the Bay Pier 15* Northeast Waterfront The Exploratorium, James R. Herman Cruise Terminal, Levi’s Plaza, Alcatraz Landing *Planned to open in 2015 With the northern waterfront already fairly well covered between AT&T Park and Fisherman’s Wharf, the Ferry Building Area serving as the midpoint, and most of the proposed new development slated for the central and southern waterfront, Port staff believes that the best opportunities for expanding the water taxi network in San Francisco lie to the south of China Basin as discussed further below. RESEARCH EFFORTS TO INFORM VISION FOR WATER TAXI IN SAN FRANCISCO Over the past year, Port staff has been working with a transportation consultant, CHS Consulting Group2, as well as the two licensed operators, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency’s Waterfront Transportation Assessment staff and other stakeholders to develop and refine the long-term vision for water taxi service in San Francisco. The CHS work includes the evaluation of water taxi services from a number of cities around the world that offer some form of successful water taxi service and 1 The Exploratorium’s lease requires they design, permit, construct and pay for a water taxi facility at Pier 15 with construction to commence by 12/1/14 and be complete by 12/1/15. Port staff is currently working with the Exploratorium towards fulfilling that lease obligation. 2 CHS Consulting Group is a Certified San Francisco Local Business Enterprise (LBE) and is one of the Port’s as-needed planning and real estate economics consulting firms. -2- which therefore may serve as models for San Francisco. In addition to these case studies, CHS also conducted a survey of potential users of the service and stakeholder interviews. A summary of this research is presented below. Case Studies Port staff, working with CHS consulting, selected water taxi operators from six major cities throughout the world to gain a more comprehensive perspective of the types of services they provide and the markets they serve. Each of the case studies features water taxi service in an urban area along a body of water similar to the San Francisco Bay - generally a geographic area comprising a maritime network within or linked to oceanic/open water area. Water taxi systems along inland waterways (i.e. rivers) such as Singapore, New York and Chicago were not included in the case studies. Similar to the two current San Francisco operators, most of the water taxi systems included in this study provide either “on-call/on-demand” service (i.e. no fixed route or schedule) or “hop/on hop/off” service with scheduled service and a fixed route. The complete results of each of these case studies including service area maps for each city examined in this study are presented in Attachment 1. A brief look at some key features regarding a few of the systems examined is provided below. Boston, Massachusetts Water taxis in Boston operate an on‐call, on‐demand service and provide direct transport to multiple locations in Boston Harbor, many of which are major attraction sites as well as transportation hubs (e.g., Logan International Airport and Black Falcon Cruise Terminal). Pricing is relatively competitive with other surface transportation services, such as auto taxis and/or shuttle buses. Other incentives for passengers include day or weekly passes to request pick-up and drop-off at various locations. Travel times are generally short, with trips to and from landings requiring around 10 minutes, which may be substantially faster than other modes, especially during peak commute periods. Boston’s water taxi operators have formed an association with local hotels, and hotel staff is able to make water taxi reservations for hotel guests. Hong Kong, China The Star Ferry in Hong Kong operates as a ferry service between three landings along Victoria Harbor. While it does not meet the strict definition of a water taxi, the service is similar to water taxi service in that it provides circuitous, hop-on/hop-off service, which enables passengers to disembark the ferry at any of the three landings and to board another ferry at any time, according to the ferry’s timetable. Seattle, Washington The King County Water Taxi provides ferry service between three locations in and around the City of Seattle. While this system is not a conventional water taxi, the service is scheduled and allows patrons to hop-on/hop-off at any of the three landings and also provides a four-day pass for a flat rate that allows for unlimited rides. -3- Sydney, Australia There are over 20 water taxi operators that serve Sydney Harbor on any given day and each operator provides on-call, on-demand service to over 100 locations. Reservations can be made by calling an operator, via online, or, at times, by soliciting services at any landing along the waterfront. In general, water taxi service is provided 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Water taxi vessels are typically designed for small groups (10 to 20 passengers); however, some operators have larger vessels to accommodate groups of up to 50 passengers, typically for longer excursions or tours. Passenger fares are relatively high. The water taxi operators are required to pay a license fee to the New South Wales Government for access to landings along Sydney Harbor. While each of the examples above as well as others that Port staff has looked at have unique characteristics which don’t necessarily translate to San Francisco in a direct way, they provide some valuable insight into the traits that make a successful water taxi system. Most notably, these case studies point to the need for a fairly broad network of destinations, spread over a fairly wide geographic area and serving different market segments including both residents and visitors. Strategic partnerships with visitor- serving organizations (e.g. hotels, tourism bureau) as well as local businesses and government agencies also are common success factors. Finally, it is evident from these case studies that while pricing varies, it is an important that the fares be fairly competitive with other available modes of transit. The CHS scope of work also included conducting intercept surveys of San Francisco waterfront visitors as well as stakeholder interviews. The goal of these surveys and interviews was to provide an order of magnitude assessment of market segmentation and demand. Market Survey Results Intercept surveys at major attraction sites along the waterfront were conducted in order to assess the level of interest for water taxi services and to understand the visitor’s waterfront experience. A detailed compendium of survey results is presented in Attachment 2. The overall survey findings indicate that the majority of those surveyed were not from San Francisco and were visitors to the city’s waterfront. Of those surveyed, the results showed that many visitors opt to take public transit in order to reach their destinations, as opposed to driving and parking their personal vehicles.