Vallejo Mare Island transbay ferry service to resume in July

Ferry service connecting Vallejo’s Mare Island businesses and homes to San Francisco will resume July 1, as part of a 30% regional increase in weekday trips by the San Francisco Bay Area Water Emergency Transportation Authority.

Also, “Fares will drop to $9 each way on Clipper. No bridge tolls needed,” the company stated on its Twitter feed. In addition, weekend service on the Vallejo, Oakland and Alameda and Richmond routes resumes on Saturday, July 3

The ferry company said the additions to the schedule raises the number to 136 weekday transbay departures on five routes beginning July 1, up from 105 during the 2019 summer season. The record total does not include the South San Francisco ferry route, which is scheduled to resume in October 2021 with eight additional daily transbay departures.

COVID-19 restrictions put in place in March 2020 and the resulting curtailment of business activity took a toll on the service. This announcement comes as Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit announced the return of more morning and afternoon commute trains this coming Monday, May 24, a number of discounted fares and a return of more weekend trips.

“WETA reduced San Francisco Bay Ferry service levels significantly in March 2020 and has continued to offer only limited weekday service over the past 14 months as the COVID-19 crisis drastically reduced transportation demand in the region. San Francisco Bay Ferry daily ridership remains 88 percent below seasonal averages. However as the region continues to re-open, ferry ridership has more than doubled since January 2021. The month of April saw the system’s highest average daily ridership since February 2020 and May is currently on pace to eclipse that,” the company’s announcement stated.

The new schedules can be viewed at sanfranciscobayferry.com/new-schedules.