there. and we have been working on the highlighting the importance of that issue, and again, i am going to reiterate on september 9th. we have a special presentation, at a time certain 4:00, and from an expert in sea level rise. and john englander and your predecessor will travis and they will be speaking on that issue, and widely but it is also specifically, as it pertains to the port and that is just one that we are on the same page once again on that as well. >> for which we appreciate. >> feel free to invite your board members also. >> we will. >> and this is an opportunity for everyone that is affected by the sea level rise to see what is really being presented. i just want to thank you for being here and listening to the presentation on the water front land use review and we look forward to getting your comments and saw the insights on that as well. and thank you very much for being here. >> thank you for having me. >> thank you.

>> next? >> item 8 c, informational presentation and water taxi landing opportunities in san francisco. >> good afternoon, planning and development staff, we are going to switch gears a little bit and talk about the water taxi,

something that is relatively new to us all here in san francisco. the one on the left that you have not seen is the boat belonging to the san francisco water taxi and you know, you could see it in action there, and in that the other one on the right is or belongs to our other, and our second operator, and tide line marine group and you can see it there, and docked at pier 1 and a half here in the fair building area. and i am going to be talking a little bit more about both of those operators in a moment. and just to go through kind of what i am going to be covering, in this presentation. i will talk about the purpose of this work in this presentation, and a little bit of background, about the current operators, and their operations. i tell you about some research efforts that we have been doing

to kind of inform ourselves, about water taxi in other places. and to get some ideas for us here in san francisco. and then i am going to go into what we see as the market opportunities and challenges with the water taxi and then we are going to hone in on where we see the, you know, the network expansion potential, to the next several years. and in material terms of the purpose we are trying to have the water taxi now and it is new as i mentioned and we would like to different a division for the long term where we see it and how we can expand that use? >> we want to identify the long and mid term opportunities and just briefly about the

background. and the port maritime division issued in our cue, in 2012, and through that process, ultimately, two companies were selected and awarded the licenses and again, the names of those two the first one is marine tide line marine group. and another picture of one of their vessels that they have two and one can accommodate, six and another larger can accommodate up to 39 and they provide an on call, on demand service and so similar to an auto taxi or a limo service, or uber and they, primarily operate out of pier 1, and one and a half. and they go to the north bay, and east bay, primarily. and their fares are based on time and distance.

>> the other group and the other company is called san francisco water taxi and another picture of one of their vessels that they have, they have one vessel now and it can carry up to 18 passenger and they have a couple more that are going to be added to their fleet and also 18 passenger vessels and they offer, a different type of service, theres hop on and hop off, and so similar to a bus. for example. and they land at a number of different water front attractions in san francisco. and they charge, ten dollars per ride. and so, getting into now, just some of these research efforts that we have undertaken and with it, and with the help of one of our consultants and the chs is a group that is a certificated local business enterprise is part of the as-needed pool of consultants and we asked them to help us, first of all to look at some walter taxi, services and other locations around the world.

and we know that there are a number of, these are the on the map showing the one that they looked at and there were six of them and i am not going to, you have, as one of our attachments to the staff report, and so the, the entire findings of those case studies, and i am just going to highlight a couple of them and what i think as maybe in the particular relevance to san francisco and the first is boston. and the map, here, depicts boston and the yellow, or the orange squares are locations of their landings. and their dock and the facilities for the water taxi and they have two operators. and both privately owned and both offer the on call, on demand service, and they have serve largely the tourist market and the functions, and they have 19, along the boston harbor and including logan

international airport as one of their destinations, and some data there interest the speed and the number of passengers. and ten dollars one way and on board or on-line and a couple of the key characteristics about boston and they offer the convenient sections and to other transit modes, and their competitive in terms of both time and cost. for services to the airport as compared to other land base transit and there is a substitution along the water front. they also look at sidney, and

which is much different and it has actually 20 different operators, and also, they also, are an on call service. to the main terminals and over 100 different landings. over in a rather wide, large, service area, and they also service both the tourist market and the corporate functionses and the charter services. and to look at and see some of the vessels there, and most of them in sort of 16 to 20 passengers and. the fares vary based on time and distance and i found them to be expensive. the sheer number of landings, in sidney, and gives the operators, both the operators

and the passengers, the ability to see and visit several different destinations and it is the nature of the on call, on demand service and it allows it for a customized experience and they do, also a lot of collaboration with the visitor's centers and the corporations to promote the services and one more that i want to highlight although, this one is actually quite different, then it is called, this is seattle and this is called the kane county water taxi, but it is really more akin to a ferry service. they operate on a fixed schedule and a fixed route and there are three locations and downtown, seattle, and yeah, downtown, seattle and the island and west seattle and you can see here a picture of one of the vessels they do look more like a ferry and 172

passenger and so really, despite the name, maybe not, the best model, for what we are talking about here. and just a summary of some of the things that we found through the case studies. and we have seen a variety of vessels and there is no single model. and but in terms of, you know, success factors i think that we saw, a broad network of destinations and facilities spread out over the large area is a key, and serving both residents, and that could be, commuters, or, employees, and as well as the visitors. and important forming strategic partnerships with the visitors serving the organizations such as hotels or, you know, local

businesses and government agencies and then, of course, having comparative pricing as opposed to other modes of transit. a market survey, it was done by our consultants, and again, you have the full results of those surveys, as attachment two. and the just want to highlight a couple of things and almost 85 percent or 85 percent were at least some what interested of the people surveyed were interested in using water taxi and two-thirds of those people were very interested. and that, 65, 70 percent, and not surprisingly, in terms of where they would want to go via the water taxi and identify, you know, at&t, park and the ferry building, and fisherman's

wharf and so forth and so the major destinations along the water front, and the northern in particular. and the vast majority willing to pay ten million or less for such a trip and we also, our consultant interviewed a number of stake holders including the current water trabs sit operators and sf travel, rita and some of the or some of our development partners like the giants. and the warriors when they were looking at 30, 32, and again, you have got, more results in the attachment that i want to highlight a couple of things strong support from the stake holders and you know, i think that importantly, everyone pretty much agreed that it was, this was an add on, and not a

competitor to the ferry, because obviously we have, quite robust ferry system already. and some of the stake holders expressed a little bit of skepticism about really the market opportunity in terms of it being you know, something that has a lot of potential to turn the profits and which, kind of leads me to the next slide and i want to talk about, what we see as the real challenge and opportunities, and so, as i mentioned it is new service to san francisco and a new business, and so, as such, the level of demand, and the price, elastic is untested and they are doing that now and they are pioneering the market and improving the market and building the market but it is a challenge. so another challenges and competition of the other transit modes and we have a

rich array of transit options here in san francisco, from muni and the petty cabs and the excursion boats, and the traditional auto taxi and walking and biking which of course a lot of people choose that option along the embaradero. >> and of course, the seasonal nature of the business, is a challenge, that is seasonal right now, that is in the high season and the high tourism season and summer months, and the high season for us, at least through the fleet week. and then, you know, weather conditions and so forth, can effect the demand. in terms of opportunities, the driving force is for itself and all of the many great

attractions, on it. and then, particularly, the central and southern water front, the major projects and they have talked about and heard about today, and present another opportunity to grow this business. water types that he also, and it is an alternative to what really has been described and i think that many of us have experienced aftererer over subscribed f line suffers from congestion and the road suffers and this is a way to get away from that and finally it allows you to see the water front and see the city from a new perspective and to get out on the water and have a bit of fun, seeing it from the new view. >> and i mentioned some of the major attractions that you obviously know about all of these, but i just want to point

them out. and really extending beyond port jurisdiction, and so you can't really see it on the map and you know all of these and we have cristty field and fort mason, and pier 39 and the new cruise terminal and the exploretorimu., and at&t park and in addition to those existing attraction wes have under way, a number of major development projects and those are shown in mostly in purple. on this map. and so, the lot, 337 and the giant's pro-yekt. and and the pier 70 project that both for the city and the development, that they are doing. and then, again, beyond the port jurisdiction we have the hunter shipyard and candle stick point and there is treasure island out there to the east. and there is also, the golden

state warriors arena now in mission bay. and so those are again, present tremendous opportunities i think, and so now, just to talk about what we have today, in terms of water taxi and landings, and you can see four, actually on this map, and the first three are, you know, currently operational, and pier 1 and a half as i mentioned here in the ferry building area that was built as part of the pierce project. and pier 40 in the south beach marina area by at&t, and down in the fisherman's wharf area and those are existing today and a fourth one is planned as part of the ex-mrortorimu., and it is an obligation for the terms of the lease to construct a facility in by the end of

2015 and i have included that as an existing facility. and in terms of where we see these opportunities between at&t park and fisherman's wharf today and we see the opportunity south of there and south of the bay son and one facility that is existing and it could be easily added, and can accommodate the water taxi is the pier 52 boat launch in the mission bay and another one, that at least as the potential is in the pier 70 area and i do have to clarify or actually correct one thing in the staff report, and i think that in the staff report i said that the concept design for the park includes a small craft launch and that is not the case, so, it has that

potential, the new golden warriors arena, and the support staff has recently met and we have been talking about the possibility of constructing a ferry terminal at this location that will serve, serve the arena for events, as well as serve the larger mission bay area, and all of its employees,

and preliminary through the discussions is teams that it is possible that you can construct a facility that would accommodate the water taxi. and then, even further beyond sort of a long term opportunity as we again, see mainly going, well, one further south, at, and either, the basin, or in the hunter's point shipyard, and then, actually, in and the candle stick point even further south, treasure island. and again, as these projects you know, build out, and which is why i would, take a longer period of time, these are the opportunities for water taxi. and then, on the north, going again, beyond the port jurisdiction, serving something

perhaps something in the yacht club, serving the club, and so that is really, that shows you there, sort of the kind of the fully, built out at least potentially built out water taxi network in san francisco. and obviously not shown here are the landings that the tide line marine uses in the east bay. this is really just san francisco. so just to wrap up, you know, the port staff is committed to working with the partners and working with the current operators and helping them grow and fostering the growth of the water taxi as a viable transit mode and yeah in terms of next steps, we would like to take this discussion to our various community groups all of them, you know, would have an interest, and i think that get that feedback and we would like to i believe that both of the

operators have this today and i hope that they are and they want to speak in public xhebt and we would like to invite them if it is already with the commission to formally address the commission at an upcoming meeting and you know, maybe a good time for that would be after the fleet week and they would have the benefit of a fun, season, of the high season of operation. and if it is okay for the commission, it would look to target toward the end of this year to do that. and then, we are already coordinating and will continue to coordinate with the transportation agency staff, to incorporate the water taxi really into the over all water front transportation framework and the water front transportation assessment, effort that is being led by peter, and others at sfmta. and with that, i am done and i would be happy to take your comments and questions. >> thank you.

>> we could have the public comment, and maybe this is the time for the operators to come to speak. >> hello. i am dave thomas and owner of san francisco water taxi and i would like to say thank you. for letting us win that contract, we have never had a quicker way to spend money more creatively than after we got that, and our rider ship goes up every month, we have been running steadily since march and we had some shake down issues to get a new boat on-line and right now we currently have two different boats and two different boat yards and we have learned one thing and we don't want to be promised anything and we hope that late september and at least one of thefm will be on-line, by november, and by, after a rocky start, i think that the port staff has done an amazing job come ng and helping us tweak the traffic signs on the seat which has given us an increase in the customers coming off some of the harder locations like hide street and

we now get a steady trickle of customers coming from there and as i say we see the steady gregt. and i would like to announce that the pier 39 called me and we are authorized to land there and we will start that within a couple of weeks. because they want the signs to match the other port signs. >> treasure island also we have done the test runs, and they have asked us to come in and we are just debating when and how we want to do that and i would prefer to wait until next year to take on that responsibility. >> and one of the other things of running this service is like working a candy shop and people really like being on this ride. they, and it is money well spent and we have adjusted our pricing programs, and it is ten dollars for the people who come show us valid san francisco id and it is $5, and high school kids are $2, and preschooler ares one, and babe in arms are free, and the fish bait whichever we decide. you know it is not a water taxi

and i am proud of my people down there and we have professional captain and we are checked every step of the way on the coast guard and they will slow us down every step of the way and we have learned, and but last friday on our run with the water taxi we heard a call over the coast guard that a happendy capped individual, was using his right task of the water front by jumping off of a pier and the police were looking for him and the coast guard was scrambling and they foupd the victim hanging on tires underneath the dock, and by the radio, was able to coach the police how to go over and find him and they lowered a life sling and did a terrible job and dropped the guy, my captain took the boat in there risking our new paint job and in five minutes, rescued the individual. and took him to the dock and the police asked him to and by

the time that the coast guard could scam bell a boat, we saved one of the citizens of san francisco and it is more than just picking out our passengers, we are maintaining the marine tradition and we like being out there and we want to stay out there and we are going to continue to do the best job that we can and we want to thank you for that. >> thank you. >> good evening, commissioners i am the president of tide line marine group. and it has been a pleasure to see this report requested actually. and as we read over it, and the expansion that it has asked for the water taxi landing opportunities, and last year we stood before you and we asked for amendments to be made for our landing writes agreement.

we were able to acquire a new revenue producing asset as a start up we are focused on lowering our costs and increasing the revenues so to improve the margins become profitable and as i speak, my partner taylor captain lewis is down in san diego right now and he is the foupder of the company and picking up a new vessel and she is a 50 foot lobster style of boat and purchased her in maryland and shipped around and she is for 46 passengers and we will operate her at 45 passengers. and she has twin 1,000 horse power engines with a wing bow which allows her to move smoothly with little to no on

board spray through all types of seas which is critical to our business going across the bay with the water taxi and i guess that it is an over all understanding to our response of this report and indicated in 2012 and our mission is to provide the taxi experience and transforming to all corners of the bay and now, our invester on board and with the greater passenger capacity and the faster travel speed, we have the ability to deliver on that. going to the games and the 49ers game and so it is an experience that we look to enhance for a comfortable efficient way to move across the bay on a water taxi and with the opportunities outlined in this report and we look to continue to improve and expand our relationship with the port

and for the hoert and long term growth. and the income will increase and we trust that the port will look into the tide line. i appreciate your time and consideration and i look forward to working with you to further prove out the value of this, and the tide line, thank you. >> public comment? >> a card? >> yes, i do. i apologize. >> good afternoon, commissioner brandon and i want to that have beeninger the commissioner for the water transportation and that came up earlier in the day, and i am concerned, that we are giving up on maritime work and job opportunities here

in san francisco. and that is another story and i wanted to talk about the tide line and water taxi service that we provide, our members, are on board those vessels and we have approximately, five people working on those vessels for captain lewis at this particular juncture and he is actually one of our members and there is a big difference between working with that and working on the union job and these are union jobs and provide a good living for these fellows. >> we are hopeful and with the injection of the new phones and so forth that this is going to beyond the start up, and as far as what the concern and i know that they have been working hard for the last two years as a union and we worked alongside of those folks and it is a partnership, and we are going to move beyond the marime