City of Portland opens door to Frog Ferry use of two public docks – BikePortland

The chances of a future electric passenger ferry service on the Willamette River just got a bit better. That’s because Frog Ferry, the nonprofit that launched in 2018, announced today they’ve secured tentative permission to use two public docks owned by the City of Portland: one at Cathedral Park (near the St. Johns Bridge) in north Portland and one at RiverPlace Marina in south Portland.

In a letter dated July 25th, Deputy City Administrator of Public Works Priya Dhanapal wrote: “The City of Portland is open, in principle, to the potential use of two City-managed docks located at Cathedral Park and RiverPlace for future ferry operations with appropriate dock upgrades by the Frog Ferry to ensure ADA compliance and safety.”

To unlock the permission, Frog Ferry needs to secure additional funding that allows them to complete a host of necessary dock upgrades and go through all required City permit processes.

Even without that money in hand yet, Frog Ferry backers see this is a major step forward. “In the ferry industry, being granted use of the docks is like being handed keys to a building,” said Susan Bladholm, the tireless founder of the organization who has deep ties the transportation and business community. 

The City’s decision saves the project millions because they won’t have to engineer and build docks of their own. It’s also a stamp of approval the project desperately needs to regain momentum lost when it floundered under previous PBOT Commissioner Mingus Mapps. With Mapps out of office, Bladholm and her supporters seized the opportunity to pitch their idea to a new slate of councilors under a new local political system.

Now Bladholm says the project is close to reaching its pre-launch funding goal. In their statement Monday, Frog Ferry said they’ve secured $40 million so far for research and planning of the ferry service and need another $20 million for capital construction in order to get the boats on the water.

They hope to raise half of that amount, $10 million, through a Portland Clean Energy Community Benefits Fund (PCEF) grant they’ve already applied for. A decision on that application is expected sometime this month. In addition to the PCEF grant, the group says they have private donors lined up and willing to put money on the table.

The ultimate vision of Frog Ferry is to deploy up to seven, 70-100 passenger vessels with up to nine stops between Oregon City and Vancouver, Washington. The ferries would not carry cars, but would allow bicycle storage. The estimated commute time between Vancouver and Salmon Street Springs would be 44 minutes.

When funding to build the system is secured, Frog Ferry says they’ll begin operation within three years.

For now, the clock is ticking. The letter from the City of Portland that opens the possibility of using these two publicly-owned docks comes with this disclaimer: “Any preliminary support expressed herein is revocable and expires if project funding is not secured within 12 months.”