On Monday, Nov. 2, the weekday ferry from the Main Street terminal to downtown San Francisco ends. SF Bay Ferry's Oakland boats will run past Main Street on weekdays, and the trips are moving to the Alameda Seaplane route at Seaplane Lagoon. The agency says weekday service between Alameda and downtown San Francisco "will be available via expanded schedules on the Alameda Seaplane and Harbor Bay routes."
For anyone in the West End who rides into the city, the boat schedule is the easy half. Seaplane Lagoon is getting more trips. Getting to it is harder. Main Street has a free parking lot that rarely fills. Seaplane Lagoon's lot is already close to capacity and has no bus stop at the terminal. The new schedule moves weekday riders from the first kind of terminal to the second.
What the Seaplane schedule looks like after Nov. 2
The final timetable, posted by SF Bay Ferry on Oct. 6, adds weekday trips at both ends of the commute and moves a few others by five or ten minutes.
| Weekday Seaplane change | Leaving Alameda for SF | Leaving SF for Alameda |
|---|---|---|
| New trips | 6:00 a.m., 5:25 p.m., 7:50 p.m. | 5:00 p.m., 7:15 p.m. |
| Retimed trips | Noon moves to 11:50 a.m.; 3:00 to 2:55 p.m.; 4:00 to 3:50 p.m.; 6:50 to 7:00 p.m. | 11:35 a.m. moves to 11:25 a.m.; 3:30 to 3:35 p.m.; 10:30 to 10:35 p.m. |
| Eliminated | 8:25 p.m. | 7:00 p.m. |
The new 5:00 p.m. boat out of San Francisco is the change the agency built the schedule around. In September, the Alameda Post reported that SF Bay Ferry proposed it to "relieve capacity concerns on the existing 4:30 and 5:30 p.m. trips on that route," and described the overall plan as an effort to better match service to how people actually ride. The 6:00 a.m. departure replaces the 5:55 a.m. trip from Oakland, which no longer runs.
Harbor Bay picks up a midday round trip and a later evening boat home, leaving San Francisco at 8:10 p.m. For most of the West End, though, Seaplane Lagoon is the nearer of the two terminals still offering weekday service to San Francisco.
November is the month Main Street goes almost dark on weekdays
Before Nov. 2, three weekday services called at Main Street: the Oakland and Alameda route to downtown San Francisco, the South San Francisco route, and the Alameda Short Hop across the Estuary to Oakland. In November, all three are out at once.
- Oakland and Alameda route. From Nov. 2, its weekday boats no longer stop at Main Street in either direction.
- South San Francisco route. It shuts down from Nov. 1 through Nov. 30 for dredging at the South San Francisco terminal, and its last day of service before the pause is Friday, Oct. 30.
- Alameda Short Hop. Weekday trips between Oakland and Main Street are suspended Nov. 1 through Nov. 30 because of the South San Francisco suspension. Weekday Short Hop service returns Tuesday, Dec. 1.
In December, Main Street gets its South San Francisco and Short Hop weekday trips back, but not the weekday run to downtown San Francisco. The September proposal coverage said Main Street would still be served on weekdays through the South San Francisco route and would stay available for special-event service to Oracle Park and Chase Center. Nothing in the final schedule says the terminal is closing. Weekend timetables stay the same across the system, apart from minor time adjustments on some Vallejo trips, so Main Street keeps its full Saturday and Sunday service.
If your weekday trips are really Estuary crossings to Jack London Square, the Sept. 17 coverage pointed to the Oakland Alameda Water Shuttle, which runs every day except Monday with upwards of 48 crossings a day. The Nov. 2 schedule makes no changes to the Water Shuttle.
Two terminals with opposite parking problems
The City of Alameda's ferry parking page lays out the two terminals side by side. The difference between them is the whole reason this switch takes some planning.
| Main Street, 2990 Main St. | Seaplane Lagoon, 1701 Ferry Point Rd. | |
|---|---|---|
| Spaces | 324 | 400, including 10 with EV charging |
| Cost | Free | $0.75 an hour or $3 a day on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, covering a 10-hour window from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. |
| Occupancy, per the city or agency | Low; the city says paid parking is not planned for this reason | SF Bay Ferry says the lot "regularly nears full occupancy" |
| Restrooms | At the terminal, with limited hours | None at the terminal; public restrooms at Seaplane Lagoon Promenade, less than 800 feet north |
The city charges for Seaplane parking only on the busiest midweek days, both to open up spaces and to help pay for security. You can pay by app, by text, or at the pay station, and mobile payments add a $0.35 transaction fee. Mondays and Fridays are free. One on-site security guard covers both the Seaplane Lagoon and Main Street terminals.
The lot is described as near capacity before any Main Street riders move over. SF Bay Ferry's own description of the terminal also says several peak Seaplane trips already reach their maximum number of bikes. The new trips add room on the boats. No source found for this post mentions added parking or bike space on land.
Getting to Seaplane Lagoon without a parking space
"There is currently no direct bus service to the terminal," SF Bay Ferry said in September. AC Transit's Line 78 pilot used to serve the Seaplane terminal, but AC Transit ended that route in 2023. Today the city lists Line 96 as the closest option. Its stop at West Atlantic Avenue and Orion Street is about 0.4 miles from the terminal, a short walk.
Here are the other ways in:
- Bike. The terminal has open-air racks and 24 secure BikeLink lockers. Bikes can ride the ferry when there's room. Since some peak boats already fill their bike space, a locker means your bike doesn't need a spot on board.
- Walk or bike the trails. The city's Get Around Alameda guide lists the Cross Alameda Trail and Bay Trail access as routes to the terminal.
- Discounted shared ride. Starting Sept. 14, SF Bay Ferry and Uber began offering up to $2.85 off shared UberX rides between the Seaplane terminal and any address in Alameda. You can use the voucher twice a day, between 6 a.m. and 11 p.m., and the code is on the SF Bay Ferry website. The press release says the program runs "through the fall," while an SF Bay Ferry board report from September says it runs through the end of 2026. Check the current terms before you count on it into December.
The voucher program is SF Bay Ferry's own response to the access gap. "The partnership will also help us gather important data to inform how our local transit partners can serve Alameda Seaplane going forward," said Executive Director Seamus Murphy.
"By helping solve first- and last-mile transportation challenges, this program will make it easier for people to choose the ferry, whether they're regular commuters or trying ferry service for the first time." — Seamus Murphy, SF Bay Ferry
A week-by-week read of the changeover
The timing comes down to a few dates, all from SF Bay Ferry's Nov. 2 schedule change page and the Alameda Post's Oct. 7 report.
- Friday, Oct. 30. Last day of South San Francisco route service before the dredging pause.
- Sunday, Nov. 1. Weekday Short Hop suspension begins. Weekend Main Street service is unchanged.
- Monday, Nov. 2. The new Seaplane timetable starts, and weekday Oakland–San Francisco boats no longer call at Main Street.
- Tuesday, Dec. 1. Weekday Short Hop service resumes. The South San Francisco route is expected to return with its current schedule once the dredging is done.
The Tuesday-through-Thursday parking fee and the Monday and Friday free days stay as they are. That makes the first Monday, Nov. 2, the easiest day to test the drive and the lot before the paid midweek days. On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, budget $3 for the day or skip the car entirely, and plan for a lot that SF Bay Ferry already describes as near full.
SF Bay Ferry has not published ridership by terminal, so there's no count of how many Main Street riders will move to Seaplane Lagoon. Its September board report puts systemwide boardings at about 319,000 in August 2026, roughly 96% of August 2019 and about 2% above August 2025. Ridership is climbing back toward its 2019 level while the West End's weekday service to San Francisco shifts to the terminal with more boats and less parking.
At Andrea Ruport Team, we've been following this change because it affects how our West End neighbors get to work and back, and changes like this tend to come up when people talk about everyday life on the island. If you'd like help sorting out how the new Seaplane schedule fits your commute, or what it means for a particular block, we're happy to talk it through. Let's Make It Happen.