Dead in the Water

Transit advocates in the Twittersphere have been (rightly) taking our ragtag group of mayoral candidates to task for their near-universal devotion to five-borough ferry service as a solution to the city's transportation problems. And rightfully so. Even though the city refuses to release numbers for some of their subsidized programs, such as the Rockaway service, it's generally assumed that the subsidy per rider far exceeds what we spend on bus and subway operations. 

The East River Ferry / Courtesy: East River Ferry

But ferries remain an appealing fix in a city where every change to a street or local disruption is subject to unruly community boards, local protests, vitriolic press coverage and, not least, the astronomical cost of doing business in New York City. Ferries, in contrast, require subsidies but are run by private companies. They run on the water, a place with far fewer stakeholders, and as a result require virtually no infrastructure except for relatively simple docks. For a politician looking to win voters, ferries offer an attractive combination of limited capital spending and easy implementation that doesn't kick up opposition the way subway construction or bus lanes do.

Of course, that approach also ignores the many shortcomings of ferry services, starting with their private ownership. With the exception of the city-owned Staten Island Ferry, which is free, the services running on New York harbor have independent ticketing and fare structures. That means fares aren't harmonized with local agencies. Worse, it precludes the one feature that could make ferries part of a robust network: interoperability. NY Waterway, the operator of many of the city's ferries, operates its own free shuttle buses in Midtown, but that separate network reinforces the idea that ferries are a different system. If riders could pay with a Metrocard and receive discounts (or free transfers) going between the East River Ferry and the A/F at Brooklyn Bridge Park or J/M/Z at Schaefer Landing, the East River Ferry would become a more functional service. Instead, a one-way trip using both MTA and the ferry costs $6.50 - hardly an incentive to use the service if you're already shelling out the $2.50 for the bus or subway.

That said, I have to defend some of the ferry proposals. Do I think we need five-borough service? Probably not. The Bronx has transit issues, but plodding ferry service to Manhattan will not solve most of them. Ferries simply distract from the more difficult task at hand, which involves making tough choices to improve or augment local bus and rail (like the newly opened Bx41 SBS or new Metro North stations along the Hell Gate line).

But ferries can provide a useful service when linking areas that are transit poor, provided the service is part of a broader transit plan. Ferries by themselves are expensive gimmicks, and their lack of infrastructure means they can disappear as quickly as the are introduced. Ferries such as the free weekend shuttle from IKEA and Red Hook to Pier 11 seem nice, but the City is missing a huge opportunity to tie the service into local bus routes, making the ferry part of the transportation network instead of a standalone novelty. Neighborhoods such as Red Hook, College Point, Hunts Point, or Astoria could benefit from service if an adequate feeder system (buses) were in place. Likewise, launch points such as Atlantic Ave/Pier 6, which are already serviced by multiple bus routes, could make use of an integrated network.

As it stands the proposals by Anthony Weiner, Christine Quinn and co. will do little to improve transportation if their expensive subsidies result in services that burden riders with additional costs and fail to link with existing transportation. And while ferries can provide value in select areas, it is a shame to see our elected officials eschewing important decisions about New York's transit infrastructure at a time when our city is growing again.