Uh Oh!
Recently a resident of Rockaway received the below email regarding the fiscal considerations germane to the continued operation of the Rockaway Ferry from Kyle Kimball, President of the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC)
Recently a resident of Rockaway received the below email regarding the fiscal considerations germane to the continued operation of the Rockaway Ferry from Kyle Kimball, President of the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC)
The New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) is a not-for-profit corporation that promotes economic growth across New York City's five boroughs. It is the City's official Economic development corporation, charged with using the City's assets to drive growth, create jobs, and improve quality of life.
If you read Mr. Kimball's email carefully you cannot help but come away with a feeling that the city is beginning to "set the stage" for an ultimate discontinuation of ferry service.
When the city starts talking about "evaluating costs and funding solutions...", "a considerable cost that is unsustainable...", "an operating subsidy that equates to several million dollars of added expense to the city's budget..."., "simply raising fares is not the answer...", "fiscal responsibility, sustainability and transportation equity...", you know you don't need sunglasses to read the writing on the wall because, at least from the tone of Mr. Kimball's email, the future of the Rockaway Ferry is not that bright!
Judge for yourself. Mr. Kimball's email follows below.
Judge for yourself. Mr. Kimball's email follows below.
As you may know, NYCEDC, in partnership with the Federal Transit Administration, commenced the ferry service to mitigate the outage of the A-train in the days following Hurricane Sandy, as a temporary alternative form of transportation and to aid disaster recovery.
Once the A-train service was restored, the previous Administration continued the ferry service as a supplement to the A-train service.
The ferry was again extended in January to allow time to better evaluate costs and funding solutions for longer term service.
Extension of this service has come at a considerable cost that is unsustainable for the City in the long term. Every day, the ferry transports approximately 400 people round-trip from the Rockaways and Brooklyn Army Terminal to Pier 11 in Manhattan at a cost of more than $30 per ride—$3.50 for the passenger, and nearly $30 for the city.
Over the course of a year, this operating subsidy equates to several million dollars of added expense to the City’s budget—the same budget we use to pay teachers, firefighters, sanitation workers, and police, and provide other essential services. Given the gap between $3.50 and $30, simply raising fares is not the solution.
To put these numbers in perspective, 400 people is less than one-half of one full subway train. Every subway trip costs taxpayers around 60 cents.
This is not to say that we should not fund ferries because they cost more to run; however, other ferry services run at a much lower cost – the East River Ferry has a subsidy of approximately $2.22 per passenger, and the Staten Island Ferry costs the City approximately $4.86 per passenger. Most comparable to the Rockaway-BAT ferry, perhaps, is NYCT Express Bus service, which offers commuter service at a per rider subsidy of around $15.
While we recognize that the ferry service provides a higher level of convenience and comfort that may not be available on these other forms of transportation, in our world of limited public resources, it is important to also consider issues of fiscal responsibility, sustainability and transportation equity; we should strive to serve as many New Yorkers as possible with our public dollars.
The Mayor has included $2 million in his recent executive budget to operate the ferry service through the summer into October.
While we continue to evaluate inventive ways for ferry service to continue, the key determinant will be financial responsibility and sustainability of service, given its high expense.
I hope you take from this message that we are doing what we can do and being as creative as possible as we consider the long-term future of what was originally intended to be a temporary service. The City remains committed to helping communities hit hard by Hurricane Sandy such as the Rockaways recover and flourish.
Again, thank you for your enthusiasm and appreciation of the Rockaway Ferry.
Sincerely,
Kyle Kimball
President
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