Maggie McDonogh, who announced last week her company didn’t apply to continue operating ferry service between Tiburon and Angel Island, said she doesn’t plan to hand the reins to another provider without a fight.
“We’re still here,” McDonogh said this week. “I’m out here running boats, my son is out here running boats, and I expect my grandson will do the same.”
The California Department of Parks and Recreation last year announced it would accept applications from prospective ferry operators for a 20-year lease to operate between Tiburon and Angel Island. State officials say they are obligated to periodically put public contracts out to bid to get the best price and service for residents.
But McDonogh, proprietor of the family-run business that has operated in Tiburon for more than a century, said the department asked that applicants commit to changes in the ferry service that weren’t financially feasible for her small company.
The contract requires that the operator pay for an accessibility ramp for use by state employees that would cost $1.5 million to $3 million, by McDonogh’s estimate. State parks staff couldn’t be reached Thursday afternoon to confirm the cost.
McDonogh said the contract also requires the operator pay for maintenance of docks, ramps and bathrooms associated with the ferry service.
More than 3,300 supporters of the longtime ferry operator signed a change.org petition as of Thursday afternoon urging state officials to compromise with McDonogh.
“The current proposed State Parks contract would exclude the incumbent Angel Island-Tiburon Ferry and Captain Maggie McDonogh from bidding on the contract due to increased financial requirements,” the petition states. “These confiscatory terms would limit access of the public to the island due to increased ticket pricing to the wealthy segment of society. Parks are for the people not just the select few.”
McDonogh said she’s encouraged by the community support.
“I am pretty darn confident that the state park will take a look at this and come to their senses,” she said.
Another bid
Though McDonogh said she’s holding her ground, state parks officials say they’re legally obligated to award a contract to the best applicant.
When the application window closed last week, state parks staff said only one candidate — Blue and Gold Fleet — had applied to run the ferry service between Tiburon and Angel Island.
Blue and Gold Fleet currently operates ferry services throughout the Bay Area, including between San Francisco and Angel Island and between San Francisco and Tiburon.
“We felt that expanding service to include the Tiburon to Angel Island route was a natural fit for Blue and Gold,” Patrick Murphy, the company’s president, said in a prepared statement.
“We respect all the ferry service operators on the San Francisco Bay and we hope to continue maintaining the integrity of service for the next 20 years, should we be fortunate enough to be selected,” he said.
Blue and Gold Fleet’s application is currently under review, according to Gloria Sandoval, a spokeswoman for the state parks.
“It is unknown at this time how long the (review) process will last or the outcome,” Sandoval said in an email.
The last time the state parks put out a request for new operators, in 2008, no one bid for the work — not even McDonogh, due to similar concerns about the state contract.
A family tradition
McDonogh and her son, Sam, aren’t the first ferry captains in the family.
McDonogh’s father, Milton McDonogh, officially launched the ferry service between Tiburon and Angel Island in 1959. Before that he helped his father, Sam McDonogh II, run a boat-for-hire business inherited in turn from his father, Sam McDonogh, who came to Tiburon in the mid- to late-1800s.
The company, which ferries 55,000 to 70,000 people to Angel Island annually, has been on a month-to-month lease with the state since 1993.
McDonogh has been praised for her civic involvement, including ferrying more than 1,200 firefighters to fight a fire on Angel Island in 2008.
