Long Beach may hop on the ‘Blue Highway’

As soon as this summer, residents may be able to travel from Long Beach to various coastal cities by way of water. 

On Tuesday night, Long Beach City Council took the first steps towards a partnership with the Pier-to-Pier Coastal Ferry Program, which can embark on its first trips over the Pacific coastline as soon as June. 

Mayor Rex Richardson directed the City Manager to work with the Departments of Public Works and Parks, Recreation and Marine in order to make Long Beach a prime destination for the Pier-to-Pier program. This move is made with the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games in mind, to give visitors and locals more transportation options between cities like San Pedro, Marina Del Rey and Santa Monica. 

“Long Beach should have a major part of this discussion, particularly now as we think of putting systems in place between now and 2028 that can remain in place for the people who live here well beyond the Olympics,” Richardson said.

Direction from the mayor also requests city departments to work with Los Angeles County and LA Metro, and to explore public investment opportunities for infrastructure improvements, passenger amenities and docks. 

Pier-to-Pier already offers ferries from Malibu to Santa Monica and Marina Del Rey. They have operated using a New York ferry operator, but will be partnered with Long Beach’s Harbor Cruises soon. Harbor Cruises has operated out of Long Beach shores for over 30 years, providing cruises in Los Angeles, Newport, San Pedro and Long Beach. 

Patricia Keeney-Maichoss, chair of the Los Angeles Pier-to-Pier initiative, spoke at the city council meeting about the program’s founding and goals moving forward. 

“Pier-to-pier really began with the idea that we’re looking at this beautiful blue highway, but we’re not using it,” Keeney-Maichoss said.

The proposed route, deemed the Blue Highway, would be as follows: Malibu to Santa Monica, to Marina Del Rey, to Redondo Beach, to San Pedro to Long Beach. Once in Long Beach, residents will have the option of stopping at the Belmont Pier or Rainbow Harbor and have access to the AquaBus, AquaLink, Passport Bus and Metro A Line. Each stop on the Blue Highway includes access to public transportation, either through the Metro or water transportation. 

The hope is that residents will utilize the ferry for both daily travel and tourism, ultimately reducing traffic on the 405 freeway and along Pacific Coast Highway. Eventually, Keeney-Maichoss said, they want Pier-to-Pier to transport goods and workers to remove daily workers from the surrounding freeways. The program has also made a pledge to use ferries that only use renewable fuel, therefore producing no carbon impact. 

The ferry will seat up to 149 passengers, and will be able to travel from Marina Del Rey to Long Beach in less than one hour, and from Malibu to Santa Monica in less than 30 minutes. Volunteers from Cabrillo Marine Aquarium will be on board to educate passengers about marine life and sustainability as they travel. 

Keeney-Maichoss said they are also working with the City of Los Angeles to add a stop at the Venice Pier. 

Councilmember Kristina Duggan asked if the City could consider expanding the ferry to Alamitos Bay. She also flagged that the dock at Belmont Pier would need to be restored in order to be part of the program. 

Long Beach resident Dave Shukla asked that the city add an equity lens to the project since they are considering using public funds for it. “My neighborhood in the east side, we get the tidelands dollars, we get the amenities. The rest of the city does not,” he said. 

He also questioned why tourists would want to visit California, or the United States as a whole, given President Donald Trump’s recent actions of invading countries and starting a war with Iran. 

“The best way for them [tourists] to show their displeasure with what we’re doing around the world is to make LA suffer,” Shukla said. “I don’t want to see that. I don’t want to see Long Beach suffer. I’d like to see all these events go off without a hitch. But what are we actually telling people? We can bomb your country, we can commit war crimes, we can threaten to do more, but we want you to come and bend the knee for our sports and our tourism. Why would they come?”