San Francisco’s Ferry Building sat dark for three hours Wednesday morning after an unplanned Pacific Gas & Electric outage cut power to the landmark waterfront hub.
The blackout began at 6:42 a.m. And stretched until 9:30 a.m., affecting roughly 455 customers in the area, PG&E said. It struck during the busy morning rush, forcing gates down at some businesses and knocking out lights inside the historic structure that draws about 24 million visitors yearly.
Blue Bottle and Red Bay Coffee were among the morning businesses hit, local outlets reported. Some traffic signals and pedestrian crossing signs nearby also stopped functioning, leaving the bustling Port of San Francisco waterfront without full electrical service.
PG&E crews inspected the electrical system at the site and repaired damaged sections, though the cause of the outage remained under investigation, a utility spokesperson said.
The Ferry Building houses restaurants, cafes, shops and a major transit center, making the timing particularly costly for vendors who rely on commuter foot traffic.
“This really hurts the older small business. We’re losing so many customers,” restaurant owner Ben Pang said.
“Why only Geary Street? Why always this area?”
Pang’s frustration echoes a broader pattern of blackouts that have plagued the region. In late July, an unexpected PG&E outage struck San Francisco and affected nearly 9,400 customers. About two weeks ago, another outage near the Oakland Coliseum BART station caused major train delays after a wire fell across the tracks.
According to PG&E’s website, unplanned outages can stem from car accidents, severe weather, or tree branches hitting powerlines protected by Enhanced Powerline Safety Settings, a system designed to prevent wildfires by automatically shutting off power when problems are detected.
As of Wednesday afternoon, two other power outages were still active in the San Francisco area, each affecting between 50 and 499 people, according to the utility’s outage map.