The trail is open, but the opening of the ferry terminal is delayed due to the impact of COVID on ridership. Details below. Details and a sign-up option for email updates are on a special webpage called Seaplane Shift. When service begins at the Seaplane Lagoon terminal, ferry service will continue at the Main Street Ferry Terminal, but the routes and schedules will change.
The proposed change would remove a restrictive condition governing the order in which construction happens. The amendment would remove a provision that allows the city to withhold building permits for market rate units if the affordable housing subcontractor, Eden Housing, is unable to secure all of its financing.
The purpose of the current provision, called a Metering Provision, was to ensure that the affordable housing units would be built in a timely manner. Ferry riders at the Alameda Main Street Terminal will soon be boarding the MV Hydrus, the cleanest running passenger ferry in the world. The state-of-the-art ferry is designed for quicker on-boarding and off-boarding, faster speeds, low noise and vibration, and low emissions. The bicycle storage capacity will be more than doubled to 50 from the current capacity of 20 on the MV Encinal, which it will replace.
They stopped at the Main Street Terminal just after the Encinal departed with passengers. The Encinal was built in and was owned by the City of Alameda during the period when the city operated the ferry service to San Francisco.
At 27 meters in length, the Encinal looked small by comparison to the foot-long Hydrus. Despite the added parking lot, the street shoulder and unpaved lot west of a dog park continue to absorb overflow. A Harbor Bay parcel assessment funds 10 percent of the Harbor Bay service. The Water Emergency Transportation Authority WETA is aiming for the delivery of a new dock for harbor seals at Alameda Point as early as April, ahead of the start of construction of its new ferry maintenance facility this summer.
