San Francisco

Water Taxi Business Growing on San Francisco Waterfront

Certainly within the last couple years, Taylor Lewis probably uttered to himself something along the lines of those immortal words from the movie Jaws; “You’re going to need a bigger boat.”

Lewis’ reference wouldn’t have been inspired by a large malfunctioning mechanical movie shark - but rather the business he launched a year-and-a-half ago on the San Francisco Bay - water taxi operator.

“The market kind of said they were ready for a larger vessel,” said Lewis from the deck of the Osprey, his recently purchased water taxi - capable of hauling 40 passengers. Lewis’ company, Tideline, is one of two companies sanctioned by the Port of San Francisco to haul passengers between a series of three stops along the waterfront, as well as Sausalito and Tiburon. Lewis’ business is an on-demand style service with advanced bookings required.

“We take everybody from local residents that have docks at their houses, to Saint Francis and Golden Gate Yacht Club members,” Lewis rattled off, “to employees from social media companies to early morning commuters.”

Since the company’s launch in September of 2012, he’s seen the business steadily grow. The trips of passengers plunking down roughly $50 a head, quickly outgrew the six-foot boat he’d been using, forcing the upgrade.

Much of that business involved carrying passengers to Giants’ games at AT & T Park - including the team's World Series run.

“All of our riders from Tiburon and Belvedere are laughing,” said Lewis, “because by the time we get them home most people are just getting to the parking lot.”

The notion of water taxis on the bay is still gingerly dipping its toe in the water. Aside from Lewis’ company, San Francisco Water Taxis operates a hop-on, hop-off style business along the few available stops. Lewis plans to soon launch a similar service with a day-pass.

Last week, a large floating construction crane hovered over Pier 1, pounding the piles for an upgraded water taxi dock. Developer Pacific Waterfront Partners added the first water taxi dock years ago, anticipating a future need.

“We did this project ten years ago,” said Alicia Allbin of Pacific Watefront Partners. “We said if you build it, they will come. And they’ve come.”

Allbin said the company had to replace the dock because of wear due to frequent usage, and the rough, salty bay waters. She said since the water taxi service launched, more and more passengers are showing up on the docks, eschewing traditional transit.

“The Embarcadero’s jammed, transit is jammed,” she said. “We need to start using the bay in a better way than we have.”

So far, the waterfront has water taxi docks at Hyde Street Pier, Pier 1 and AT & T Park. Next year, the Exploratorium plans to add a fourth dock. The port anticipates adding even more stops as development along the Southeast end of the city and Mission Bay continues.

Lewis has been in discussions with the Golden State Warriors about adding service when its new arena is scheduled to open in 2018. But even with a bigger, faster boat, Lewis isn’t taking anything too fast.

“Slow and steady wins the race in our industry,” he said.

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