San Francisco Ferry Building Reclassified So That It Is No Longer A Mall

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Alpha8472
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San Francisco Ferry Building Reclassified So That It Is No Longer A Mall

Post by Alpha8472 »

The San Francisco Ferry Building is a large indoor mall. It was ordered to close Wednesday due to regulations that indoor malls must close due to increases in coronavirus cases. The building houses many restaurants and shops. It is a huge tourist destination. Many of the restaurants and shops do not have exterior doors. Restaurants and shops with exterior doors are allowed to be open.

That all changed today when the mall was reclassified as a transport terminal. Now the building is open for shoppers and diners. What kind of a loophole is this? Now every single mall will want to reclassify itself as a transport terminal.

https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/ ... 430509.php

The building is a very unique place as it has restaurants, shops, food markets, cafes, and ferry boats dock outside. Most of the restaurants do not have indoor seating. Customers buy their food and go outside to eat at tables right next to San Francisco Bay.

Every single mall could be considered to be a transport terminal if they have buses that stop at the mall. The end of malls has come. Now it is the new era of transport terminals that just happen to have restaurants and stores inside.
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Re: San Francisco Ferry Building Reclassified So That It Is No Longer A Mall

Post by klkla »

I find it strange that they didn't contact anyone from the City/County of San Francisco for comment.
rwsandiego
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Re: San Francisco Ferry Building Reclassified So That It Is No Longer A Mall

Post by rwsandiego »

My guess is the "loophole" is that ferries dock at the building, therefore it is a transportation building.
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Re: San Francisco Ferry Building Reclassified So That It Is No Longer A Mall

Post by storewanderer »

This is very interesting.

Thinking of San Francisco- how about that Westfield center downtown (where Bristol Farms was)? It has a direct connection to mass transit. However the mass transit at that building I think has alternate exits/entrances so you do not *have to* go into the Westfield center in order to use the mass transit.

Ferry Building is a little tougher. The way it is designed, don't you *have to* go in there in order to use the ferry?

Many small businesses operating there in the Ferry Building. Glad to see them able to reopen. Not really clear what this means for Coronavirus and the whole reason to close businesses to stop it from spreading and all that.
Alpha8472
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Re: San Francisco Ferry Building Reclassified So That It Is No Longer A Mall

Post by Alpha8472 »

The ferries do not stop inside the building. The ferries dock outside and you do not have to go inside the building. The building is no longer used for transit of any kind. You buy your ferry tickets outside at machines.

Westfield San Francisco Centre has a BART train station with fare gates right next to the doors that go inside the underground level of the shopping center. You do not have to go inside the shopping center to get to the streets above. There are escalators that lead to the street level from the BART station.

I was in New York City and the train stations had stores including a Duane Reade by Walgreens inside the stations. Those were actual transit terminals.
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Re: San Francisco Ferry Building Reclassified So That It Is No Longer A Mall

Post by buckguy »

It's also where Amtrak picks up passengers for the Oakland terminal. The rationale is probably that ferry and train passengers need to be able to go indoors during inclement weather which is irrelevant for the Westfield complex because there's already a BART station underground there and, in fact, the mall entry to BART is currently closed. COVID aside, the main reason to skip the Ferry terminal is that it's an overpriced tourist trap.
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Re: San Francisco Ferry Building Reclassified So That It Is No Longer A Mall

Post by Alpha8472 »

Technically there are no trains that stop there. The Ferry Building is a bus stop for Amtrak.

Any mall can now claim they are a bus stop and a transit terminal. Where does it end? Someone at San Francisco City Hall is taking bribes.

The downtown Oakland 19th Street BART train station had a Sears entrance inside the subway station. That one was previously Emporium Capwell. That is a real transit terminal and it had a Subway Sandwich shop inside as well.
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