Roughly a quarter of a million tourists every year get on their rented bikes and after taking limited stabs at two-wheeled San Francisco tours, they inevitably head over the Golden Gate Bridge and that leads them to Sausalito where they congregate like corralled livestock with nowhere to go until they take a ferry ride return trip.
A controversy has arisen over their numbers, and their biking etiquette. Complaints have swelled which suggest that they block doorways, sidewalks and traffic, and dominate the opened spaces and parks. Commuters during the afternoons find themselves enduring long delays as the single file of bicyclists disembark and make their way with their bikes down from the second level of the ferries and off the walkway.
While the town of Sausalito was the only town within Marin to increase its revenue from sales tax and can thank the biking tourists for such, the town is keen to find a solution to maintain the cash flow and maintain the peace. The rapid growth of interest in the self-guided bike tours has certainly caught officials flat footed as they scramble for solutions. However, city officials have now begun the initial implementations after much discussion and some efforts are now coming to fruition. The commuter situation has been addressed by adding an additional ferry during the commuting hours to alleviate crowding. A dozen bike racks have now been installed to gain some order amongst the chaos. Also being investigated is a means or egress and ingress for the bicycles between the ferries and the shore so that loading and offloading is expedited.
