San Francisco Bay Ferry Service Gets Warriors Fans to Chase Center

SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX) -- Dub Nation celebrated an exhilarating win over the Brooklyn Nets Saturday night, and some Warriors fans traveled to and from the arena in unique fashion.

The San Francisco Bay Ferry is fast becoming a popular, safe and fun way to get to Chase Center from the East Bay.

KPIX 5 hopped aboard with former player and current Warriors Liason for Business and Basketball Zaza Pachulia. He said the experience brought back memories of his teenage years playing ball in Istanbul.

"I used to move around with the ferry quite a lot," said Pachulia. "Back then as a teenager, I didn't necessarily drive a car, and traffic was one of the worst things you can experience in Istanbul. But it's a beautiful city with lots of culture."

San Francisco Bay Ferry officials say it's the first transit system in the Bay Area to fully restore its pre-pandemic service last summer. Ridership on the service immediately doubled.

"This is fun, especially when you have nice weather. It's so convenient and there's a lot of spaces and you can sit inside and out, and you can enjoy the view," said Pachulia.

The 20-minute ride from Alameda or Oakland runs on game days and costs less than $10 each way.

"We just lowered our fares and we've ridership really come back as a result. Our system is leading the way in terms of ridership recovery," said Executive Director of the San Francisco Bay Ferry Seamus Murphy. "It's the best pre-game spot on the bay too. We have concessions on board and we still around and wait after the game and get you back home too."

Each ferry can hold up to about 300 people.

KPIX spotted a number of Dubs fans like Andrew Corpus on our ride to Saturday's Lunar New Year game.

"Just being able to be outside and feel that cool ocean breeze, not being cooped up inside a BART train or being cooped up inside your car sitting in traffic, in standstill traffic for about an hour maybe a little bit longer, it's definitely a very convenient way to get here," said Corpus.

The Mission Bay Ferry Landing, which is will drop fans right at Chase Center is expected to be complete in 2024. For now, ferry riders have a short walk from Pier 48 1/2.

More information on San Francisco Bay Ferry service to Chase Center can be found online.