San Francisco, the birthplace of innovation, is looking to an old-school transit system to ease subway congestion: ferries.

Over the weekend, the city gave two private "water taxi" companies, Tideline Marine Group and PROP SF, the green-light to begin scheduled commuter runs across the San Francisco Bay.

If they opt into the Tideline service, passengers will board one of a handful of ferries in Berkeley, California (with more pick-up locations coming at a later date) and reach their destination at San Francisco's Pier 15 in only 20 minutes, according to Tideline's website. The company plans to charge $8 one-way and will hit the water later this month.

Instead of squeezing into a jam-packed subway car for half an hour, water-taxi commuters will sprawl across 40-person vessels, complete with free WiFi, flatscreen televisions, and beverage service.

PROP SF promises 12-minute transit times from Emeryville to San Francisco when it launches in early 2017. Eventually, routes connecting Berkeley and Emeryville with Redwood City and San Francisco will also be added. Its vessels seat up 99 people at prices comparable to Tideline.......................

[www.businessinsider.com]