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By Alec MacDonald
People seeking to traverse the San Francisco Bay now have a sleek new option to consider — one which, in the event of an emergency, could become their only option.
The latest in Bay Area travel debuted to much fanfare on December 12 as the San Francisco Bay Area Water Emergency Transportation Authority (WETA) christened Gemini, the first in a quartet of ferries set to join the agency’s fleet. In 2010, these four vessels will commence routes between South San Francisco and Oakland, and may possibly run between Berkeley and San Francisco as well, with future destinations such as Redwood City, Hercules, Richmond, Antioch, and Martinez being considered.
These ferries will also be pressed into duty in the event that roads, bridges, or the TransBay Tube become unsafe — not an unlikely scenario in the disaster-prone Bay Area. If an earthquake put those structures out of commission, over 300,000 commuters could be eyeing San Francisco’s Ferry Building as an entry point into the city. WETA does not currently have the capability to handle this scenario, but in the agency’s push to eventually get there, the Gemini and her sisters will play a major role.
For the time being in the current year, the Gemini will support service from San Francisco to both Tiburon and Alameda/Oakland, giving passengers who take these trips an experience on the cutting-edge of water transit.
Traveling at a speed of 25 knots, the Gemini holds 149 passengers and has room for 34 bicycles, not to mention two ADA-compliant restrooms, free wireless Internet access, and enhanced safety and security measures.
Given the criticism of ferries that they tend to pollute too much, perhaps the most important aspect of the Gemini is its environmental friendliness. It runs ten times cleaner than existing Bay Area ferries, producing exhaust that boasts an 85 percent improvement over EPA emission standards for Tier II (2007) marine engines. Biodiesel and ultra-low-sulfur diesel fuel power the vessel, which also carries a pair of solar panels that will help determine the future viability of drawing on the sun’s energy for propulsion. Moreover, the Gemini features wildlife-friendly design, with sonar to detect and avoid whales, and a catamaran hull that minimizes the disruptive effect of wake on birds, fish, and shorelines.
In March 2009, Gemini should be joined by Pisces, the next of the four new ferries. These first two were constructed with $16 million in bridge toll funding that voters made available by passing Regional Measure 2 in 2004. WETA expects the second pair of vessels to be delivered later this year.