Whether commuting for work or just to get across the Oakland Estuary quickly, getting from Alameda to Oakland got a whole lot easier this past July with the launch of the Oakland Alameda Water Shuttle.
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The yellow pontoon boat was christened “Woodstock” after one of Alameda’s original neighborhoods on the island city’s West End, from which the boat departs and arrives.
Woodstock makes the four-minute journey back and forth from Alameda Landing in front of the Bohol Circle Immigrant Park to Jack London Square twice an hour Wednesday through Sunday. Service started in July and after a hiccup on its maiden voyage that temporarily sidelined the little pontoon boat, it’s been smooth sailing ever since. Passengers have been pleased.
John Randell has two choices for riding his bike from his home in Alameda to Oakland — the noisy, smog-choked narrow sidewalk in the Posey Tube or the new water taxi service. Not surprisingly, he prefers the water taxi service to sucking exhaust fumes.
“This is pretty-first class,” Randell said recently while waiting for Woodstock to board passengers on the Alameda Landing side. “I want to start carrying the schedule around so I can try and use it more.”
Bike riders make up a sizable portion of the water taxi passengers, and Woodstock is ready for them with special velcro tethers secured to a bar that riders can latch their bikes up to during the trip across the Oakland estuary. Randell said he has a car but doesn’t use it much.
“We do all the grocery shopping and everything on the bike.”
In fact, he’s so committed to the bike lifestyle that he was on his way to Bike East Bay, the Berkeley-based bicycle advocacy group, to pick up items he won in the organization’s recent silent auction.
“We’re going to go pick up our swag.”
And he was riding his bike to do so — not just talking the talk but walking (or pedaling?) the walk.
Alamedan Shayna Brubaker wasn’t even planning to ride the water taxi to Jack London Square when she dropped by Bohol CIrcle park with her 17-month-old son Everett recently. Having done so before, though, she said she realized her son might enjoy an impromptu excursion and turned out to be right. Without hesitation he agreed, and they set sail.
“Today we’re going across and coming back,” said Brubaker, who said she’s also made the trip across the estuary for dinner and to see live music in Jack London Square.
She said she’s noticed that sometimes, especially later in the day, that she’s had to wait in Oakland for the next boat back to Alameda because Woodstock has reached its 31-passenger capacity. Brubaker said that’s a minor drawback and that she’d like to see the service expand to Monday and Tuesday.
“I love it,” she said of the ride to Oakland. “I go over there to grab a coffee or just walk around.”
Another bike rider on board recently was Mario Chavarria. The 41-year-old West Oakland resident said he was on his way to see his doctor in Alameda but takes the water taxi for other reasons too, such as when he goes bike riding on the island. Chavarria says he owns a car but “would rather not drive. I hate driving in West Oakland.”
He says he’s also a big believer in using the waterways to get around. Chavarria says people in the Bay Area don’t use water transport options enough like they do in other communities such as Seattle.
“People don’t realize how important watercraft are.”
Chavarria, who said he planned to travel soon to Africa and Europe for a month, said he was also honing his public transit skills a bit before the trip because he knew he’d be “taking a lot of public transportation” while abroad.
A collaboration between the San Francisco Bay Ferry (which operates several Bay Area ferries), the Port of Oakland and Alameda, Woodstock is funded by $2.7 million in grants — $1.7 million from the Alameda Transportation Management Association and the remainder from the Alameda County Transportation Commission.
Driving is not easy as cycling or walking to catch the water taxi on the Alameda side, as parking is restricted near the launch point — walking, bicycling or catching AC Transit’s 96 bus that stops behind the nearby Target at the Alameda Landing shopping center are recommended.
The water taxi schedule varies depending on the day of the week. Woodstock makes the crossing 37 times from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays. From Friday through Sunday the shuttle shifts to a schedule of 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. There are also gaps in service to gas up Woodstock and let the crew take well deserved breaks.
A new schedule with more frequent service will start Nov. 6, adding 52 trips a week to meet the strong demand. Riders will continue to enjoy a free ride across the estuary Wednesdays through Sundays. For the full, updated schedule and other information, visit watershuttle.org or sanfranciscobayferry.com/oakland-alameda-water-shuttle-schedule online.
Paul Kilduff is a San Francisco-based writer who also draws cartoons. He can be reached at pkilduff350@gmail.com.