'' Melrose '' was the first San Francisco Bay ferry designed to carry automobiles . Southern Pacific Transportation Company and predecessor railroads had been operating ferries between San Francisco and Oakland , California since 1862 . Some ferries were equipped to carry team-drawn wagons , but the increasing number of automobiles requiring transport encouraged building of a ferry with an unobstructed lower deck for automobiles and 400 seats on an upper deck for passengers . '' Melrose '' was launched without engines on 11 April 1906 . Installation of engines being built at San Francisco 's Union Iron Works was delayed by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake a week after launching . The ferry was not completed until 1909 . The side wheels were powered by two inclined tandem engines to avoid main deck obstruction by a traditional walking beam engine
1906 San Francisco earthquake
1906 San Francisco earthquake
Melrose (ferry)