Blue & Gold Fleet is a privately owned company in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

providing ferry services in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. It operates the

San Francisco Bay Ferry San Francisco Bay Ferry is a public transit passenger ferry service in the San Francisco Bay, administered by the San Francisco Bay Area Water Emergency Transportation Authority (WETA). In , the system had a ridership of , or about per weekday a ...

commuter ferry system under contract with WETA. Blue & Gold also operates tourist and excursion services under its own brand from

Pier 41 Pier 41 is a ferry terminal on Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco. The former headquarters of Blue & Gold Fleet, their box offices are now located at Pier 39. The Pier is located east of the Fisherman's Wharf district and to the west of Pie ...

in San Francisco, with midday ferry service to

Sausalito Sausalito (Spanish for "small willow grove") is a city in Marin County, California, United States, located southeast of Marin City, south-southeast of San Rafael, and about north of San Francisco from the Golden Gate Bridge. Sausalito's ...

and a variety of tourist routes. The company is the Bay Area's largest ferry transportation provider and carries approximately 4 million passengers annually.

History

San Francisco from Forbes Island pier 39, 544

Blue & Gold Fleet began excursion service from the West Marina of

Pier 39 Pier 39 is a shopping center and popular tourist attraction built on a pier in San Francisco, California. At Pier 39, there are shops, restaurants, a video arcade, street performances, the Aquarium of the Bay, virtual 3D rides, and views of Cali ...

in 1979 with three vessels. The company became the operator of the Alameda/Oakland commuter ferry (under contract with the City of Alameda) in 1991, the Vallejo ferry (under contract with the City of Vallejo) on July 1, 1994, and ferries to Sausalito, Tiburon,

Angel Island Angel Island may refer to: *Angel Island (California), historic site of the United States Immigration Station, Angel Island, and part of Angel Island State Park, in San Francisco Bay, California * Angel Island, Papua New Guinea * ''Angel Island'' (n ...

, and

Alcatraz Alcatraz Island () is a small island in San Francisco Bay, offshore from San Francisco, California, United States. The island was developed in the mid-19th century with facilities for a lighthouse, a military fortification, and a military pris ...

(all acquired from

Red & White Fleet Red and White Fleet is a sightseeing and charter tour company operating in the San Francisco Bay Area of California since at least 1892. Based in the US, the site and the audio on the cruise are, as of 2016, available in 16 languages. History The ...

) in 1997. In 2006 the contract for the Alcatraz service was lost to Hornblower. In 2011 Blue & Gold won the contract to operate the consolidated

system, which subsumed the Alameda/Oakland and Vallejo routes and over the following decade grew to include four other cross-Bay commuter routes. The company ended commute-hour service to Tiburon in 2017 and all service to both Tiburon and Angel Island in January 2022; these services were subsequently taken over by

Golden Gate Ferry Golden Gate Ferry is a commuter ferry service operated by the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District in San Francisco Bay, part of the Bay Area of Northern California, United States. Regular service is run to the Ferry Build ...

References

External links

* Ferry companies of California Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco Public transportation in San Francisco Public transportation in Alameda County, California Public transportation in Solano County, California Public transportation in Marin County, California Transportation in Oakland, California {{California-transport-stub