Mayor Adena Ishii and City Council
2180 Milvia Street,
Berkeley, California 94704
 

Dear Mayor and Council,
 

The Sierra Club Northern Alameda County Group strongly encourages Berkeley to take a more holistic, non-single occupancy vehicle-centric approach to planning for future ferry passenger capacity at the Berkeley Marina. Taking steps to meaningfully promote transportation alternatives is a key step towards the city meeting its climate and emissions goals, as well as encouraging more equitable and less environmentally impactful transportation options for commuters and visitors.
 

The strategies put forth in the Water Transportation Pier-Ferry Project Parking and TDM Plan will only serve to encourage people to drive to the Berkeley Marina when accessing the new ferry service. Increasing parking, formalizing overflow parking locations, and improving wayfinding to and from these overflow lots and the ferry terminal are ultimately strategies to make driving easier, which will invariably lead to more driving. The phenomenon of induced demand is well-studied in transportation demand management, and its results are predictable. In addition, the cost-effectiveness of investments in bus and rail transit compared to trips by ferry that are more costly per rider strongly indicate that the City should avoid discretionary local investments supporting parking, while receiving grants and other resources developed by WETA.
 

Instead, we believe that the City of Berkeley should be prioritizing improvements to alternate modes of travel to and from the Marina and new ferry terminal, which aligns more closely with the city’s own goals. These include:

• Improved bicycle infrastructure and connections: Protected bike lanes along University Ave, safer and more direct connections from West Berkeley to the Marina, and ample bicycle parking in close proximity to the terminal, in addition to well-signed connections to the adjacent Bay Trail, portions of which are already used as a bicycle commuter route, notable considering the massive new investments in offices and research facilities immediately to the south of the Berkeley Bay Trail pedestrian bridge, as well as the recreational programs that attract younger bicyclists and cyclists using assistive devices around Aquatic Park
   
• Improved transit service and access: In partnership with AC Transit, extending more short-turn 51B trips to provide service to the Marina, improving bus stops and wayfinding in and around the Marina, and exploring additional connections on additional routes
   
• Substantive communications and marketing, to communicate planned changes, and connecting these changes both to impacts on individual travel as well as the city’s overarching climate and GHG emissions goals
   

Finally, the city should be taking steps to actively discourage people from choosing to drive to the new ferry terminal. This could include charging a fee to use onsite parking facilities, or even reducing the amount of available parking (ideally in coordination with above improvements) to encourage alternative modes of travel. The existing parking lots are an opportunity to reprioritize land around the terminal to provide more open space and create a more vibrant and inviting transit connection.
 

We believe that taking a more holistic approach that supports active and equitable transportation options will create a more robust, inviting ferry terminal for generations to come.
 

Thank you for your consideration.
 

Respectfully,
 

Maxwell Davis, Chair
Sierra Club Northern Alameda County Group