Port Sonoma ferry is a waste of money

By MIKE ARNOLD
Thursday, September 1, 2005

In a recent Close to Home column, Doug Bosco defends Congress for allocating $20 million to North Bay Ferry Services to develop Port Sonoma , arguing "ferry service at Port Sonoma makes perfect sense."

No, it doesn't.

It's a waste of scarce taxpayer dollars to invest in Port Sonoma. Here's why.

While billions of dollars are spent each year on transportation by public agencies nationwide, public dollars for transportation are scarce. As much as there is, there isn' t enough to go around. Sonoma County experiences this scarcity in many ways. It has taken decades to get funding to widen Highway 101 in Sonoma County, and money for widening the highway between Petaluma and Novato still isn't assured. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of commuters waste hours each day stuck in traffic.

Bus services have been reduced and fares increased by Golden Gate Transit, the one public agency that relieves congestion on Highway 101 during the peak hours. Potholes abound. And local politicians are regularly putting tax measures on the ballot to provide more funds for our ever-deteriorating public transportation infrastructure.

In light of this scarcity, prudent public policy should be to invest the dollars that are available with great care and to evaluate alternative investments against one another, just like private investors do when considering whether to put savings into stocks or bonds.

The choice is not about investing in Port Sonoma versus doing nothing. It's spending scarce dollars on Port Sonoma versus spending the dollars where they would do far more good to relieve congestion.

Bosco claims "2,200 commuters will use the ferry every day, according to studies done by the Water Transport Authority. When train service resumes, that number could double."

Bosco should have checked the WTA Web site. The WTA forecasts a ferry operating out of Port Sonoma, serving the San Francisco Ferry Terminal, would take about 500 commuters each way during peak hours in 2025. These numbers are one of the main reasons the WTA put the Port Sonoma ferry on the back burner.

Commuters make the same trip every workday. They evaluate alternative ways of getting from their homes to their jobs, weighing the cost, time and experience of alternative travel modes. Presumably, only people living in Novato and Sonoma C ounty who work in downtown San Francisco and commute during the peak commute hours would be the primary candidates for the ferry service.

Census 2000 provides an actual count of where people live and work, and how they get and when they go to work. There were 8,200 residents living in Novato and Sonoma County working in downtown San Francisco. About 60 percent, 4,900, commute during the peak hours. And according to the Census, 41 percent already take public transit to their jobs in downtown San Francisco.

Since the ferry operates in the same corridor as Golden Gate Transit, many of the riders that would take a ferry at Port Sonoma would be former bus and ferry riders, not drivers. (Many commuters who drive into San Francisco prefer driving, and they're not going to change.) It is unlikely a Port Sonoma ferry would make much difference to total transit ridership. This is the key reason a Port Sonoma ferry does not justify a $20 million public investment.

Bosco claims it's environmentalists who are stopping ferries at Port Sonoma. It's not. It's economics. The truth is, the ferries would be a poor public investment, even if developing the port were good for the environment.

If the public is interested in increasing public transit usage, it should invest money into a transit system that has a proven track record. Golden Gate Transit carries more than 25,000 passengers every work day. About one-third of these riders cross the Golden Gate Bridge and ride into downtown San Francisco. Even more would take the bus if there were more routes and lower fares. In Sonoma County, there is no system that can compete per dollar of public investment with Golden Gate T ransit for taking commuters into downtown San Francisco.