The Staten Island Ferry's fare-free service is seen as both a critical transportation link that brings transit-starved residents to a paid subway ride and as an unfair freebie to its critics.
Now, there are calls to hit tourists with a $4 fare to fund transportation in the city from Queens advocates trying to keep ferry service in the Rockaways past October.
"Staten Island is already receiving a generous subsidy, while Rockaway is still desperately in need of permanent ferry service and better transportation options," Queens Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder said in a statement.
Just 15% of ferry riders in Staten Island live outside of the city, according to a recent Independent Budget Office analysis of the idea. The city paid an average of $5.75 a passenger this year.
Charging for rides could generate $35.5 million in net revenue over 15 years with a stand-alone fare system; letting riders pay with a MetroCard would generate $67.4 million over the same period if the MTA paid the city for each swipe of an unlimited-ride.
7 comments:
67 million over 15 years? The ferry costs more than a 100 million to run per year. And growing very fast. Well over two billion over those same 15 years.
Let's get real Goldfeder.
Charging tourists? Will they have to show their passports to board the SI ferry too? This is a DUMB idea. DUMB!
You should ask for a portion of the Verrazano bridge toll instead. That toll is already highway robbery!
Yet another way we are subsidizing development. Taking it from the pockets of working people on S I.
Rockaway is already served by mass transit.
If you want a ferry there, pay whatever the market wants to charge you.
The VZB is expensive to maintain. The SI resident discount has them paying the cost of maintenance at most. They don't subsidize anyone.
why doesn't goldfeder ask all the hipsters that are living in/ruining rockaway to pay for it.They will certainly be the ones using it.
Express buses and vans are faster and cheaper.
Post a Comment