Commuters’ Ferry Ride a Wet Ordeal

Hoping to avoid the gridlock that threatened to paralyze freeways and bridges leading into quake-stricken San Francisco, thousands of determined commuters took to the seas Monday, boarding a flotilla of ferries that carried them on hair-raising journeys across a storm-tossed bay.

While a few passengers seemed to consider the rough ride in driving wind and rain something of an adventure, others nearly lost their breakfast and some were drenched when towering waves swept across the ferries’ decks.

“It was very scary and very crowded. I’m scared as hell,” Kim Merriweather of Vallejo said as she stepped ashore on shaky legs. “I don’t ever want to come back over here to work. If I didn’t have to, I sure wouldn’t.”

For many passengers, the misery continued even after they reached solid ground. Treacherous seas and damage to at least one pier forced many vessels to detour to berths in more protected spots on the waterfront--some of them a mile or more from most commuters’ destination, the city’s financial district.

At Pier 41 near Fisherman’s Wharf, wet, cranky passengers streamed ashore by the hundreds to find raincoated workers shouting at them through bullhorns. The instructions were intended to direct commuters to shuttle buses, but the voices were sometimes lost in sheets of rain and gusts up to 65 m.p.h. Confusion reigned.

“Where do I go from here?” asked a bewildered Peter Lieder of Berkeley, a manager at the Internal Revenue Service, after arriving at Pier 41.

Passengers trying to board ferries bound for the East Bay had similar trouble; some were shuttled from pier to pier in San Francisco for two hours before finally setting sail.

Although ferry ridership was up 50% over the 10,000 customers who normally climb aboard on a typical weekday, officials said they had been hoping for a stronger turnout. The rainstorm undoubtedly deterred some, ferry operators said, while other commuters might have been scared off by reports of $10 round-trip fares. That was cut in half at the last minute when emergency federal funds were made available to subsidize ferry operations.

“Mother Nature didn’t treat us right,” lamented Dick Simpson, a vice president at Crowley Maritime Corp., the company that supplied many of the 14 ferries pressed into emergency service. “It was like we were being tested to see if we really wanted to do this.”

The first commuters to take a ferry to San Francisco from Oakland began lining up in the rainy pre-dawn at Jack London Square about 5:15 a.m. Tickets marked “special event” went on sale at 5:30 and, soon after, 333 passengers clambered aboard the triple-decked Catalina Empress.

The Empress--one of four vessels diverted from their normal Santa Catalina Island run to help out in the Bay Area--was scheduled to leave at 6. But winds delayed the westward departure. Finally, at 6:45, the boat chugged off, taking a trans-bay route not used for regular ferry service since 1940.

With the vessel’s outside seating spoiled by the rain, passengers crowded into its enclosed decks; those without seats perched on stairways or stood, gripping rails as the boat lurched back and forth during the 40-minute trip.

During the ride, most passengers sipped coffee, read newspapers and chatted about the circuitous routes they must now follow to get to work. Others, however, were overcome with nausea as the vessel pitched to and fro.

“I threw up when I got to work,” Lorraine Rodriguez, 32, a computer analyst from Oakland, said later.

For many, the trip was an experiment, a relaxing, even romantic way to get to work. Others opted for ferries to avoid the crowds that were sure to pack the BART system, and some were afraid to travel underground.

Mike McAuliffe, an insurance broker from Lafayette, was not bothered by the delays and inconvenience: “You can’t complain about anything if you aren’t pancaked in the (collapsed Interstate) 880,” he said.

Although it took Ken Glasspool, 37, of Oakland 2 hours and 15 minutes to get to his job with a telecommunications firm in San Francisco, he has no plans to abandon ferry travel for BART.

“Jesus would have to be the engineer for me to get on BART,” Glasspool said.

Before the Bay Bridge and Golden Gate Bridge were built in the 1930s, ferries were the chief form of transportation linking San Francisco with points north and east. Indeed, in that era, San Francisco Bay harbored the world’s largest fleet of ferries--scores of side-wheelers, stern-wheelers and propeller-driven vessels. More than 50 million passengers a year rode the boats back then, along with horse-drawn buggies and, ultimately, automobiles.

Freeways and bridges changed all that, but the boats have made a comeback in recent years as traffic headaches--and aggressive marketing campaigns--have prompted more and more commuters to opt for an aquatic route to work. Today’s ferries make it an inviting way to go; traveling 30 m.p.h or faster, the sleek diesel-powered vessels offer stunning views, heated observation decks, hors d’oeuvres and cocktails.

An estimated 2.5 million passengers are carried annually by two ferry operations on the bay: Crowley Maritime Corp. and the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District.

Aboard the boats Monday, veteran ferry riders shook their heads in disbelief upon spotting the bay’s nasty condition. Normally, they said, the waterway is as smooth as glass during the morning commute, though winds typically pick up by evening and can make for white-capped journeys home.

“It was like being on a big watery roller coaster,” said Mary Smith of Oakland, who was commuting to her job as a collection analyst in San Francisco. “Everything kept going up and going down. I tell you, it was rough.”

Paul Ciadrini, a sales director from Richmond, decided to ride the ferry rather than “be a sardine on BART.” His boat took a sudden roll midway through the voyage, sending “all of the stuff on the snack bar . . . crashing to the floor.”

“That really gave me a feeling of confidence,” he joked.

Crew members were equally impressed, describing the 6-foot waves as the most treacherous they had faced in years: “Some of the roughest weather I’ve seen on the bay. Gale-force winds and high seas,” said Dave Stuhlburg, captain of a ferry chugging between San Francisco and Richmond.

The weather was so threatening that two smaller ferries among the fleet of 20 vessels crisscrossing the bay were held at shore for a spell; one even suffered minor damage.

While the first ferries to depart Monday morning were crowded, the passenger count dipped as the day wore on; by midday, ferries were sailing almost empty.

Although seas were calm, skies were clearing and order was restored by the time the evening commute began, ridership still remained below what was anticipated.

Wilkinson reported from Oakland and San Francisco, Warren from Los Angeles.