Ferry operators around the country to receive $200 million in federal grants to modernize fleets

SAN FRANCISCO — The Biden administration will issue $200 million in grants to modernize the country's ferry systems, including those with routes linking Marin and Solano counties to San Francisco, officials announced Thursday.

The grant program will focus on expanding ferry service in rural communities, helping them acquire modern ferries, including electric boats, and upgrading shore infrastructure to support low-emission ferry service, officials said.

Twelve ferry operators in the territory of American Somoa and the states of California, Washington, Alaska, Maine, Michigan, New Jersey, New York and North Carolina will receive grants, said Nuria Fernandez, administrator of the Federal Transit Administration.

“The grants help transit agencies make investments to increase reliability, improve connections to other modes of transportation, and bring older ferry systems into a state of good repair," she said during a news conference at San Francisco's Ferry Building.

The Bay Area grants will help modernize the region’s ferry system by accelerating San Francisco Bay Ferry’s transition to a zero-emission fleet and making the Golden Gate Ferry’s Sausalito terminal safer and more accessible for passengers, according to a news release from Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael.

The San Francisco Bay Area Water Emergency Transportation Agency, which operates San Francisco Bay Ferry, will receive $15.9 million to retrofit two of its existing dock floats in Alameda and San Francisco with battery energy storage systems. The ferry serves terminals in Vallejo.

The Golden Gate Bridge, Highway & Transportation District, which runs Golden Gate Ferry with three Marin terminals, will get $6 million to revitalize the deteriorating passenger boarding system. It would fund installation a wider boarding platform and hydraulic gangplanks that extend to the vessels, intended to provide safe and comfortable boarding access to passengers at low and high tide.

The New York City Department of Transportation will receive nearly $7.5 million to build shoreside terminal infrastructure to enable rapid charging for vessels serving Governors Island, which is only accessible by ferry. The new charging system will reduce emissions, decrease maintenance costs and improve reliability for riders, officials said.

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North Bay Business Journal contributed to this report.