Director of Engineering and Maintenance Christian Stark has been one of the principal voices behind the positive changes and improvements across the Golden Gate Ferry fleet over the last seven years.
As the director of engineering and maintenance at the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District, Christian Stark is responsible for maintenance management, the mechanics, the engineering, the drydockings, the refurbishments, all of the major projects and more for all the ferries operated by the District. Photo by Elvira Stark
By Matt Larson
Published: September, 2014
Director of Engineering and Maintenance Christian Stark has been one of the principal voices behind the positive changes and improvements across the Golden Gate Ferry fleet over the last seven years.
Stark oversees the maintenance management, the mechanics, the engineering, the drydockings, the refurbishments, all of the major projects and more for all the ferries operated by the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway & Transportation District. “It’s been an exciting time to be here,” he said. “We’ve been doing a lot of work on the ferry system.”
The most noticeable changes for commuters have been the major upgrades to the Golden Gate Ferry boats themselves since the refurbishment of the Marin in 2006—and there are even more to come. “We’ve been going through a program of recapitalizing on all of our assets,” said Stark. “I started in 2007 with the repowering of the Mendocino, putting all brand-new engines in it.” After that, Golden Gate repowered and installed new water jets on the Del Norte, completely took apart and refurbished the Napa and Golden Gate, and is now refurbishing the San Francisco.
“The plan of the future is we’re getting ready to hopefully do the Sonoma, after that repower the Marin,” Stark said. “Once we get done with that, which should be about two and a half years from now, we’ll have repowered and refurbished every single boat in the fleet.”
With so much responsibility, the job can certainly be stressful, but Stark enjoys being so involved. “As far as rebuilding the ferry division, being able to have my input and make some rather significant refurbishments on the boats—it’s very nice to be involved in that process.” However, Stark looks forward to the day it’s all done. “That’ll be nice,” he said. “We’ve got a couple more years to go, so by the end of that it’ll be nice to have a break and just focus on maintenance and operations for a little while.”
The biggest challenge for Stark? “Just trying to keep the operation running in addition to all of our day-to-day maintenance, to keep everything operating smoothly while we’re undertaking all these large projects,” he said. “We’re trying to be as efficient as we can. We’ve got 10 full-time mechanics, we operate maintenance here pretty much 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.” Stark wants to let riders know that they have a team of talented individuals making their daily commuting routine as smooth as humanly possible.
“Our biggest concern is to keep the boats running and make sure everyone gets to where they’re supposed to be all the time,” Stark said. Stark explained that Golden Gate operates four-engine catamarans instead of two-engine catamarans in order to provide reliable redundancy: The four engines run simultaneously but not at full throttle, so if one of the engines malfunctions, the crew can crank up to full throttle on three engines and still meet the schedule.
“So if there’s a problem no one has to know and it doesn’t impact ridership at all,” Stark explained. “That’s the goal. Four engines take a little more effort and maintenance on our part—we’ve got twice as much equipment packed into the same-size engine room that other people have, which makes it a harder boat to maintain. But it works out in the end. If we have a problem, we can keep running and fix an issue on a calm, well-thought-out basis instead of an emergency reaction.”
Living in San Rafael, Stark believes that riding the ferry is indeed the best way to travel in the Bay. “I’m obviously biased—I’ve worked in the ferry industry since high school—but it’s definitely the most relaxing, stress-free way to get between here and the City.” And despite their excellent service, Stark and his crew are constantly looking for new ways to improve. “We’re always open to feedback to something you think we’re not doing well,” he said. “We’re striving to do the best we can.”
