The first boats at the foot of Main Street to run on batteries are expected to be the Angel Island–Tiburon Ferry's, ahead of the big Golden Gate commuter catamarans. This is the family-run line that crosses Raccoon Strait in a few minutes, and the public money behind its overhaul runs through the Town of Tiburon.
That changes how this winter on the waterfront reads. The ferry is about to drop to its slowest schedule of the year. Meanwhile, the grant paying to rebuild it is already producing work on the street.
The winter schedule starts in November
Through October 31, the Angel Island–Tiburon Ferry still runs Wednesday through Sunday. Weekday boats leave Tiburon at 10 a.m., 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. On weekends there are departures every hour from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., except noon, according to the Angel Island–Tiburon Ferry schedule.
In November and December, the schedule shrinks to this:
- Saturdays and Sundays: depart Tiburon at 10 a.m., 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. A 3 p.m. boat runs for campers only.
- Returns from Angel Island: 10:20 a.m., 11:20 a.m., 1:20 p.m. and 3:20 p.m., open to all ticket holders.
- Mondays and Tuesdays: no service.
- Wednesdays through Fridays: no regularly scheduled trips. The ferry suggests checking its website for added school-group trips that riders can join.
- Holiday exceptions: the weekend schedule also runs on Veterans Day, Wednesday, Nov. 11, and the day after Thanksgiving, Friday, Nov. 27.
For anyone who treats the island as a backyard hike, that leaves seventeen weekend days in November and December, plus those two holidays. The last return at 3:20 p.m. sets the length of the day more than the trail does.
What the grant is paying for
The electrification project is listed on californiashift.org, the clean-transportation program site. It names the Town of Tiburon as grantee under grant G22-ATDP-13. The California Air Resources Board contributes $24,049,552 and matching funds add $8,183,852, for a project total of $32,233,404. The listed project period runs from October 2024 to June 2027. The Ark's earlier coverage rounded the total to about $31 million. The SHIFT figure is the itemized one.
The money covers the whole fleet, each boat in a different way:
| Vessel or site | What it does today | What the project changes |
|---|---|---|
| Bonita | Short-run ferry for regular Angel Island service | Diesel to zero-emission electric propulsion, possibly with a test-sized wing sail |
| Angel Island | Short-run ferry for regular service | Diesel to two electric motors, semi-solid state batteries and a Tier IV emergency generator |
| Tamalpais | Excursion boat for private events, dinner and sunset cruises | Replaced by a new plug-in hybrid, tentatively named Watts Up |
| Tiburon dock | Home berth | Shoreside charging, a solar array, and electrical and dock upgrades |
Along with the Angel Island Tiburon Ferry itself, SHIFT lists Moe Engineering, Geary Construction, Twin Disc, Palmer Johnson and EV Maritime of New Zealand as project partners. In November 2025, The Ark reported that EV Maritime had unveiled its design for Watts Up, a 64-foot plug-in hybrid costing about $12 million. EV Maritime CEO Michael Eaglen told the paper that showing a rendering meant the team was "more firmly committing when you're telling other people what it's going to look like."
The project's own claims about benefits matter most to the people who live closest to the dock. SHIFT lists less noise, no diesel exhaust and less risk of fuel spills, along with an estimated reduction of 6,646 metric tons of CO₂-equivalent.
Why lower Main Street kept closing this spring
Most people saw the grant as traffic notices well before seeing it on the water. In March and April 2026, the Town posted a series of closures tied to PG&E work that it described as related to ferry electrification:
- March 3: sidewalk work at 21 Main Street. Main Street stayed open, with possible brief partial lane closures.
- March 26: lower Main Street closed to vehicles from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pedestrians could still pass, and Ark Row, the Corinthian Yacht Club and the Main Street lot stayed reachable from Beach Road and upper Main.
- April 1 and 2: lower Main Street closed to vehicles again for the same PG&E work, with the same detour through Beach Road and upper Main Street.
The Town's notice for March 26 is the clearest record of the pattern. The grid side of the project reaches the dock through the town's busiest block, and the town handled it with one-day closures that kept the walkway open. On the project page, SHIFT now lists installation of dock electrical infrastructure as underway.
The status board does not give a launch date
That same status board gives two updates. The Watts Up design is complete, and the team is collecting cost estimates and schedules from boatyards. No shipyard is named, and no delivery date is posted for any of the three vessels.
Earlier dates do exist, but they are old targets. In July 2024, The Ark reported the partnership with EV Maritime and projected the converted Angel Island and Bonita for late 2025 or early 2026, with Watts Up to launch in January 2027. The current project page's language suggests the new boat hasn't reached a shipyard yet. So the January 2027 date reads as a 2024 plan, and the grant period's end in June 2027 is the firmer date to watch.
The winter schedule doesn't say it was built around construction, and nothing on the ferry's site ties service to a boat being out of the water. For now, the boats crossing on winter weekends are the boats people already know.
The commuter ferry runs on a different clock
The Golden Gate Ferry boats that take Tiburon commuters to the San Francisco Ferry Building are part of a separate program with a later timeline. On its New Ferry Build page, the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District lists these milestones for its Liwa-class replacement vessels:
- Board authorization of the construction contract with Mavrik Marine on November 14, 2025
- Notice to proceed on March 11, 2026
- Keel laid on April 23, 2026
- First vessel expected in service in 2028
- Full fleet replacement expected by 2033
The Liwa is a 500-passenger high-speed catamaran. The District says it will cut emissions 80% and need 30% less power than the current boats, and that every future vessel will be able to serve every route, Tiburon included. The trade outlet WorkBoat describes the propulsion as diesel engines with hybrid gearboxes and electrical storage. That makes the Liwa a cleaner diesel boat, while the Angel Island ferry project is the plug-in one. In December 2025, The Ark put the District's modernization program at $118 million.
Both projects end at the same Tiburon waterfront, but each has its own operator, funding source and finish line. The small ferry's grant window closes in June 2027, and the first Liwa isn't due until 2028. On current plans, the first plug-in boat at the end of Main Street will belong to the smaller fleet.
A 1959 route with new engines
The family behind the smaller fleet has run this crossing a long time. A profile posted by SHIFT on July 3, 2026, and originally published by 7x7, describes owner Capt. Maggie McDonogh running "the Tiburon-to-Angel Island route her father started in 1959." It calls the operation "the little ferry that could." The SHIFT profile says her fleet will soon include one of the first zero-emission ferries in California.
So the November and December weekend boats still run the route set up in 1959. The upgrades come through the dock, the grid connection on lower Main Street and a grant with the town's name on it. The winter schedule's first crossing leaves Tiburon on Sunday, Nov. 1, at 10 a.m.
For many of our clients, the boats crossing Raccoon Strait are part of why Tiburon feels like home. If you'd like to talk about how the waterfront and downtown are changing around your property, Smith & Co. is glad to have that conversation. Schedule a free consultation and we'll share what we're seeing along Main Street.
