The Main Street Alameda Ferry Terminal will soon close for over two months of renovation work, disrupting some San Francisco Bay Area commuters, ferry officials said.
The ferry operator says the disruptions will affect around 150 weekday passengers.
The terminal's operation will be suspended starting Oct. 23 and will resume on Jan. 2, 2024, San Francisco Bay Ferry officials said in a news release.
Thousands of commuters use the ferry terminal to hop among Downtown San Francisco, Oakland, Alameda and South San Francisco every day.
The ferry runs 150 transbay trips each weekday and 61 trips on weekend days, with ridership growing during the year to reach 80% of pre-pandemic levels by July 2023.
The ferry set a new post-pandemic ridership high in July with 237,000 passengers, surpassing its 215,000 passengers record in June, which included a post-pandemic daily passenger record of 10,465 passengers on June 22.
The Main Street Alameda Ferry Terminal will undergo repair and replacement of its aging infrastructure to comply with earthquake safety requirements, according to the ferry service.
During the closure, Downtown San Francisco-bound riders can use the Alameda Seaplane Lagoon Ferry Terminal while transits to the Chase Center and South San Francisco will only be available from the Oakland Ferry Terminal.
Ferry officials said they have made service adjustments to mitigate most of the impacts.
"There is one exception in terms of a route (South San Francisco) where some Alameda passengers will be unavoidably inconvenienced," a spokesman said.
The Alameda Short Hop route between the Alameda Main Street Ferry Terminal and Oakland's Jack London Square will be suspended during the closure. A suggested alternative route is AC Transit's 96 bus route.
"Design elements also prepare the terminal for future fleet electrification needs. Upon completion of the project, passengers will see direct benefits like more efficient ferry operations and modernized terminal lighting," the San Francisco Bay Ferry said.
Data collected since January found the ferry had completed 99% of scheduled trips, with 97% of scheduled trips arriving at destinations within five minutes of scheduled times.
The system's overall record remains 15,103 passengers on June 20, 2022, when the Golden State Warriors held their most recent NBA championship parade.
Correction: A previous version of this article stated thousands of customers would be disrupted. New information from the operator says around 150 passengers use the terminal over five weekdays.