Santa Monica Bay Bicyclists (and Pedestrians!) get a lift this Summer!
Eight-week ferry for bicycles to begin operations in August
8/12/2002-BIKE/PED FERRY UPDATE!<-click here!
July 2002
By Darien Murray
A bicycle ferry across the Marina del Rey main basin will operate during an eight week pilot program beginning in mid-August.
"Pedestrians are welcome, too," to use the ferry, said Julie Cook, a Marina planner.
The ferry will operate between the boat fuel dock at the channel end of Bora Bora Way on the west side of the Marina and commercial docks at Fisherman's Village adjacent to Fiji Way on the east side of the Marina.
"This is a supplement to the bicycle path, should anyone want a ferry ride," said Stan Wisniew-ski, director of Beaches and Harbors.
"It sounds like fun and will add to the liveliness of the Marina," said Susan Cloke, County Marina del Rey Design Control Board chairman.
The pilot project will include an alternate route that will take the ferry from Fisherman's Village to Burton Chace Park to pick up and drop off bicyclists and passengers, before crossing the Marina main basin on the way to the Bora Bora Way boat dock pickup and drop-off area.
The ferry project was announced by county planners during a Design Control Board meeting Thursday, June 20th.
The ferry taxi proposal had been presented to the Design Control Board by two organizations, Environment Now and the State Coastal Conservancy, Cook said.
A proposed ferry service throughout the Marina was announced also, but no details on an expanded water taxi project were provided by Marina officials.
A water taxi in the Marina is not a new concept.
Years ago, such a water taxi was being proposed as a condition to allowing some Marina development, but Marina developers were never required to provide such a water taxi operation and water taxis in the Marina never materialized.
Former Los Angeles City Councilman Marvin Braude, a noted cyclist, once proposed a ferry for cyclists across the Marina entrance channel that would link the Marina Peninsula and Playa del Rey beach areas for cyclists.
Braude argued that such a bicycle ferry would allow cyclists to use the coastal bicycle route without detouring around Marina del Rey.