Arnie takes over ferries, does Newsom take ferry?
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's calvacade zoomed past me today as I left Alameda island. They were coming from the Alameda ferry terminal, where Arnie and SF Mayor Gavin Newsom and Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums had just held a press conference to mark the formation of a new agency.
It's called the San Francisco Bay Area Water Emergency Transportation Authority, or WETA,and it's aimed at bolstering ferry service as a fallback if a disaster takes out area bridges and highways. Like an earthquake or a Maze meltdown, we guess.
WETA was created by a bill that the Governor signed on Friday, October 12, and will get $250 million in infrastructure bonds passed last November to begin building more ferries and ferry terminals.
I suppose that means that there won't be money for more free rides if and when emergencies happens. Remember the Maze meltdown earlier this year? At the time, I naively thought they'd make the ferries free for as long as it took to replace the freeway connector that had melted to toffee after a truck driver lost control of his rig and crashed.
But, no-oooo.
All we got was one free ride, on the first commuter morning that followed the meltdown.
I was told that fthe authorities didn't want to encourage joy riding, like that what occurred last summer during Spare the Air days.
Fear of vandalism is also why there have only been free morning rides this year, on Spare the Air days.
But wouldn't it be better to encourage people to use and respect the ferries, while they are young, and therefore get them to establish good, life long patterns of transportation that don't involve cars?
Just a thought.
Anyways, WETA has already met opposition from officials in Vallejo and Alameda who worry what the changes mean for their service.
Arnie, who says the new agency is meant to be "a cooperative effort," left in two black jeep like vehicles, flanked by two motorcycle officers and followed by a limo.
I couldn't see through the tinted glass who was inside the limo, so it was impossible to know if Newsom took the ferry back to San Francisco. Or if Dellums took the ferry the other way, to Oakland.
Hope so. It's a cool ride and beats clogging up the Bay Bridge and polluting the Bay Area air, every time.
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Comments (2)
I think it would be better, while they are young, to encourage people not to look for free handouts. Thanks for being part of the problem and not the solution.
Posted by Chase | October 15, 2007 09:03 PM
Freeloading car drivers are always looking for a free ride. Why should you get free rides when the rest of us have to pay to ride every other day of the year?
I really thought that during the maze meltdown they should have honored existing BART cards but charged $100 to print any new cards on the first day.
Posted by Jeffrey W. Baker | October 15, 2007 09:08 PM