My partner and I decided to take the Larkspur ferry for an overnighter. The 3pm ferry out was popular, with a decent crowd assembled inside the paid area a good twenty minutes early. We almost ran out of bike hooks (if two more cyclists had shown up, one of them would have been denied boarding). The Larkspur route runs high-speed catamarans on weekdays, so dock to dock was a quick half hour.
Larkspur's ferry terminal is trippy, and way more elaborate than the one in Oakland or Alameda. Under its big modern canopy it's got waiting and ticketing/Clipper areas and bike parking. Beyond that, acres of car parking. That is one massive parking lot.
The trip to our hotel was a quick five minutes by bicycle, over the pedestrian/bike bridge that crosses Sir Francis Drake Blvd. and through the "Marin Country Market," a recently renovated boutique lifestyle center surrounded by mid-rise condos. This connection from the terminal to the "town" was nowhere near as time-consuming or confusing as it seemed on Google maps.
I was curious to investigate the
Cal Park Tunnel, a former rail tunnel repurposed as a pedestrian and bicycle tunnel between Larkspur Landing and San Rafael. The trail picks up in the Country Market's parking lot, and is a quick 15, 20 minute ride into downtown San Rafael. I'm no longer a fast rider, so I'm certain this is a very feasible bike commute between Marin County's biggest and most urban city and its busiest ferry terminal.
Before dinner (Marin Brewing Company--incredible), we rode back up the ped/bike bridge to get a better view of the sunset behind Mt. Tamalpais. More visually arresting, however, was the commuter traffic below on Sir Francis Drake: huge volume, totally congested, and the traffic pouring out of the ferry terminal was comparable to a four-lane highway at rush hour.
After another quick five minute ride between the hotel and the ferry terminal this morning, we found the 11:10 boat mostly empty and plenty of room for bikes. We started out 2 minutes late but made up the time on the water--another very fast catamaran. And coming into the City by boat is really cool.
Larkspur is basically San Rafael's ferry terminal--until I was on the ground there, I couldn't really tell that. The time it takes to ride a bike from downtown SR to the landing is comparable to the ride from the Financial District to the Mission--but easier and with less mode conflict. If a commuter train comes anywhere near the Country Market area, it will absolutely increase ferry ridership.