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SAN FRANCISCO (KTVU) - The San Francisco Bay Ferry is under fire after hundreds of passengers were left stranded for more than four hours Monday evening after mechanical problems left it stuck in the middle of the Bay.
It was during the evening commute when only 45 minutes after departing San Francisco and heading for Vallejo, the ships captain had noted the engine problems.
The ferry left at 5:15 p.m. and was Vallejo-bound.
The crew tried to troubleshoot but couldn't find out what was wrong.
People on that vessel say that's when things got worse.
"It just stopped. Both of the engines went off. We didn't get any notices. The Captain didn't know what to do," says stranded passenger Kaylee Gomez.
More than 300 passengers were on board when the ship became stranded.
"It was terrible, worse experience of my life," stranded passenger Maliyah Hewins.
"They stopped selling stuff. They told us not to use the bathroom anymore," says Gomez.
A spokesman for the company says that's not true. He says the restrooms onboard were available until about 10 to 15 minutes before the ferry arrived.
He goes on to say the snack bar was open and free to customers until they ran out.
"People were getting angry and frustrated but there were some people that kept a good sense of humor too," says stranded passenger Valerie Duvall.
"It was pretty traumatic because we didn't know what was going on and they didn't tell us anything. They didn't' have a good plan of attack for this. They just let us sit there for a while," says Gomez.
Three hours into the ordeal, a tugboat came out to rescue all 330 onboard.
At 9:45 pm Monday night, four and half hours after the boat departed from San Francisco, the passengers arrived at Mare Island in Vallejo.
"For the most part, it runs well. It's better than being on the road. But when it has a problem it's a problem. What are you going to do get out and swim?" says Karen Galvin of Napa.
"People were stuck on this boat for five hours and they didn't even post 'I'm sorry' on the website. Are they going to get a ferry pass? Or some kind of compensation," says Janine Ryle of Vallejo.
A company spokesman says currently there are no plans to compensate any of the passengers who were stranded.