Despite Backing from Bloomberg and Quinn, Ferry Plan Faces Choppy Waters
$100 million annual subsidy could sink expansion, pull money from elsewhere, some worry
March 10th, 2008
In PlaNYC, Mayor Michael Bloomberg called for expanding ferry service to new communities that are springing up along the city’s waterfronts.
City Council Speaker Christine Quinn (D-Manhattan) upped the ante in this year’s State of the City speech, promising a “comprehensive five-borough, year-round New York City ferry system.”
But with tough financial times ahead and ferries traditionally costing much and earning little, some of the same politicians and transportation advocates cheering the city’s plan are nervously wringing their hands.
Council Member John Liu (D-Queens), who chairs the Council Transportation Committee, praised Bloomberg and Quinn for committing to ferry expansion at a time when the city’s roadways are buckling under record levels of congestion. But he warned that the plan will not be cheap.
“We’re talking on order of $100 million a year to do it right as a connection to all five boroughs,” Liu said. “Although the price tag is high, it’s far more affordable and cost efficient than building new subway lines.”
For years the Council butted heads with Bloomberg over public subsidies for ferries, Liu said. But now he said he is seeing a change of heart at City Hall.
The city’s Traffic Mitigation Commission proposed using revenues from congestion pricing to create a $39 million “lockbox” from which money for ferry expansion could be pulled. But Liu and others stressed that cash will need to flow from other sources as well.
Reps. Jerrold Nadler (D-Manhattan/Brooklyn) and Carolyn Maloney (D-Manhattan/Queens) have in the past earmarked millions of dollars for ferry expansion. And city officials are counting on a renewed commitment from Washington as well as financial help from the private sector.
Vincent Gentile (D-Brooklyn) said he eagerly awaits the day when he can say “all aboard” for ferry rides from his Bay Ridge community to Lower Manhattan.
“Ferries have been the only mode of transportation that hasn’t been subsidized by the city or the MTA,” Gentile said. “That’s outrageous, because it’s probably the most efficient, the fastest, the most direct route for many, many New Yorkers.”
The city could buy ferries and lease them back to the operating companies, Gentile said, as a way to mitigate costs.
But public funding tops the list of priorities for many cash-strapped ferry operators across the city. A few days before Quinn unveiled her five borough vision, the New York Water Taxi, one of the city’s five still viable ferry operators, shut down its service between the Brooklyn Army Terminal and Manhattan.
Company president Tom Fox said that the financial woes afflicting most ferry operators underscores the need for city officials to identify specific and viable cash streams.
“Even with the best intentions, one has to not only find the money, but develop the fiscal system to disburse it,” Fox said.
The city is currently leafing through proposals for a ferry line linking the Rockaways to Manhattan. Quinn’s far grander vision, which is still in development, imagines lines connecting Hunts Point in the Bronx to Coney Island.
Some transportation advocates are worried that with only so much money to go around, the speaker’s focus on the waterways may come at the expense of street and transit improvements.
“Ferries require a much higher operating subsidy than surface transit,” said Paul Steely White, executive director of Transportation Alternatives. “I think we really need to take a close look at being very strategic about which ferry trips are going to be subsidized and at where buses and bicycling and walking would be better.”
Frequency and connectivity are other issues the City Council needs to take into account, said Roland Lewis, executive director of the Metropolitan Waterway Alliance.
“If you miss the 7:20, you might be waiting until 8:20 for the next ferry,” Lewis said,“or until 7:20 the next day.”
Lewis added that he believes new ferry terminals must be well-linked to bus lines and subway stations if the ferry system is to work.
City Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Kahn said that this is not the only issue of interconnectivity, insisting that the ability to move from one form of transportation to another with a single Metrocard would be ideal.
“You could imagine taking a series of East River ferries coming across the river, getting on a bus rapid transit system, taking that across 34th Street,” she said. “I think it all ties together.”
Regardless, with the political will to expand the city’s ferry system firmly in place, New York’s waterways may soon be teeming with dozens of new boats and thousands of new commuters.
Fox said expanding the city’s ferry service fits neatly into New York’s tradition of big ideas.
“We built the Verazzano Bridge. We built the Brooklyn Bridge,” Fox said. “We can build anything we put our minds to building.”
City Council Speaker Christine Quinn (D-Manhattan) upped the ante in this year’s State of the City speech, promising a “comprehensive five-borough, year-round New York City ferry system.”
But with tough financial times ahead and ferries traditionally costing much and earning little, some of the same politicians and transportation advocates cheering the city’s plan are nervously wringing their hands.
Council Member John Liu (D-Queens), who chairs the Council Transportation Committee, praised Bloomberg and Quinn for committing to ferry expansion at a time when the city’s roadways are buckling under record levels of congestion. But he warned that the plan will not be cheap.
“We’re talking on order of $100 million a year to do it right as a connection to all five boroughs,” Liu said. “Although the price tag is high, it’s far more affordable and cost efficient than building new subway lines.”
For years the Council butted heads with Bloomberg over public subsidies for ferries, Liu said. But now he said he is seeing a change of heart at City Hall.
The city’s Traffic Mitigation Commission proposed using revenues from congestion pricing to create a $39 million “lockbox” from which money for ferry expansion could be pulled. But Liu and others stressed that cash will need to flow from other sources as well.
Reps. Jerrold Nadler (D-Manhattan/Brooklyn) and Carolyn Maloney (D-Manhattan/Queens) have in the past earmarked millions of dollars for ferry expansion. And city officials are counting on a renewed commitment from Washington as well as financial help from the private sector.
Vincent Gentile (D-Brooklyn) said he eagerly awaits the day when he can say “all aboard” for ferry rides from his Bay Ridge community to Lower Manhattan.
“Ferries have been the only mode of transportation that hasn’t been subsidized by the city or the MTA,” Gentile said. “That’s outrageous, because it’s probably the most efficient, the fastest, the most direct route for many, many New Yorkers.”
The city could buy ferries and lease them back to the operating companies, Gentile said, as a way to mitigate costs.
But public funding tops the list of priorities for many cash-strapped ferry operators across the city. A few days before Quinn unveiled her five borough vision, the New York Water Taxi, one of the city’s five still viable ferry operators, shut down its service between the Brooklyn Army Terminal and Manhattan.
Company president Tom Fox said that the financial woes afflicting most ferry operators underscores the need for city officials to identify specific and viable cash streams.
“Even with the best intentions, one has to not only find the money, but develop the fiscal system to disburse it,” Fox said.
The city is currently leafing through proposals for a ferry line linking the Rockaways to Manhattan. Quinn’s far grander vision, which is still in development, imagines lines connecting Hunts Point in the Bronx to Coney Island.
Some transportation advocates are worried that with only so much money to go around, the speaker’s focus on the waterways may come at the expense of street and transit improvements.
“Ferries require a much higher operating subsidy than surface transit,” said Paul Steely White, executive director of Transportation Alternatives. “I think we really need to take a close look at being very strategic about which ferry trips are going to be subsidized and at where buses and bicycling and walking would be better.”
Frequency and connectivity are other issues the City Council needs to take into account, said Roland Lewis, executive director of the Metropolitan Waterway Alliance.
“If you miss the 7:20, you might be waiting until 8:20 for the next ferry,” Lewis said,“or until 7:20 the next day.”
Lewis added that he believes new ferry terminals must be well-linked to bus lines and subway stations if the ferry system is to work.
City Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Kahn said that this is not the only issue of interconnectivity, insisting that the ability to move from one form of transportation to another with a single Metrocard would be ideal.
“You could imagine taking a series of East River ferries coming across the river, getting on a bus rapid transit system, taking that across 34th Street,” she said. “I think it all ties together.”
Regardless, with the political will to expand the city’s ferry system firmly in place, New York’s waterways may soon be teeming with dozens of new boats and thousands of new commuters.
Fox said expanding the city’s ferry service fits neatly into New York’s tradition of big ideas.
“We built the Verazzano Bridge. We built the Brooklyn Bridge,” Fox said. “We can build anything we put our minds to building.”
