Waterway commuting

An old saying goes that every great city has its river. This may be true, but many aren't using them very much anymore, as cities concentrate more on tertiery services and less on shipping and industry. Jennifer Saranow of The Wall Street Journal wrote an article ("Cities encourage commuters to take to the water," September 5, 2006) about the expansion of commuting services by waterways, which has gotten some attention from the federal government.

According to the article, "At the federal level, the latest transportation bill authorized more funding for ferries than the previous bill - $335 million over five years, up from $220 million in the previous bill."

The New York metropolitan area has seen the following:

Besides the new water-transportation options, existing services in cities from New York to Seattle are expanding and trying to spur ridership. Earlier this year, the privately owned New York Water Taxi, which serves commuters crossing the East River with yellow taxilike boats, started forming partnerships with new apartment developments and giving new tenants discounts and free passes. Another private ferry operator NY Waterway, with 18 local routes, painted two of its ferries last month to resemble yachts and plans to put the finish on all 34 ships it operates. In August, Washington State Ferries started testing letting riders buy tickets online and is working on enabling monthly pass holders to get fees automatically downloaded to pass cards each month.

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The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey estimates that there are about 37,000 daily weekday trips across 22 routes in the area, up from about 33,000 trips daily on 14 routes before the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. The agency, which has started working on a study that could lead to a regional ferry plan, predicts growth of 3 percent to 5 percent over the next few years, with ferry service set to be launched between Yonkers, N.Y., and Manhattan in the spring and from Edgewater, N.J., to lower Manhattan later this year.

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NJ Transit in New Jersey has also over the past year adjusted some of its commuter-bus routes so they link up better to ferries going to New York.

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Ferries also can serve as an important form of backup transportation, for instance, during blackouts or after terrorist attacks. After Sept. 11, 2001, large numbers of people were evacuated from lower Manhattan in boats and extra ferry service in the area until late 2003 helped to make up for shuttered commuter-train service.

The drawbacks? Ferries generally depend on gasoline, which is getting expensive. "[O]n June 1, NY Waterway raised some prices 25 cents to $1 per ride depending on the route," Saranow wrote. "A one-way ticket from Weehawken, N.J., to midtown Manhattan, for instance, went up 25 cents to $6 and a monthly pass went up to $211 from $200. In contrast, to get from Weehawken to Manhattan by rail would cost about $3.25 per ride and about $93 a month, but would include a train transfer in Hoboken, according to NJ Transit. The monthly NY Waterway fare from Belford, N.J., rose to $572 from $550. To get a train from the area to Manhattan costs $297 per month.