New York City Ferry subsidies: it's obvious it should be repriced upward as a premium service

The fact that the New York City Ferry service, the only transit service operated by the City of New York, is priced the same as a single fare on the subway or bus, but the cost to provide each ride is significantly higher, is getting renewed media coverage.

According to Politico New York, based on a study by the Citizens Budget Commission, NYC has the second highest subsidy for ferry trips, surpassed only by New Orleans ("Should New York City charge more to ride the ferry?" ), but that's because NYC's fare is many dollars lower than peer systems.

-- "How the NYC Ferry could work: Experts weigh in on how to improve the city’s ferries without scrapping them," City & State
-- "NYC Ferry mostly used by white, well-off New Yorkers, city data shows," New York Daily News

The obvious course of action is to charge more, recognizing it is a premium service. But this is one more issue that Mayor DeBlasio is obstinate about and so far he refuses to acknowledge the reasonability of charging more.

I wrote about this, but as part of another entry, in 2018:

New York City is expanding the ferry system ("NYC Ferry service is getting a major expansion," Time Out) which is the only element of the transit system controlled directly by the city.  They'll be adding two routes, and three new vessels each with a capacity of 350 passengers, compared to the 150-person capacity of each boat in the 17 boats in the current fleet.

Commuter Emily Mueller enjoys a drink at the ferry bar on her way home to north Brooklyn on the evening ferry. Village Voice Photo: David Williams.

Before the recent agreement by Mayor DeBlasio to fund a lower cost transit pass for low income residents, advocates criticized the transit focus on ferries as helping the well off, especially because under mayor DeBlasio, the ferry fare is equal to the subway fare,$2.75, making it heavily subsidized.

From the Village Voice article "Foamland security: ferry riders say DeBlasio's subsidies spare them subway trauma":

Ferry riders are, by and large, higher-income New Yorkers taking advantage of subsidized ferry rides to avoid subways and buses — not because it’s a faster commute, but because of the ferry’s creature comforts such as elbow room, concessions, alcohol, WiFi, and the fresh sea air.

“The time factor has nothing to do with it for me,” explained J. Scott Klossner, a 53-year-old freelancer currently working for the Today show who takes the Rockaway route, even though it adds almost 45 minutes each way to his commute.

“I can get a coffee, a bagel, everyone is nice. The opposite is true of the A train: Everyone is a fucking asshole.”

London as a counter example: pricing ferry commuter rides as a premium service.  On my walking tour of London with former TfL official Ivan Bennett, we talked about the ferry services there, called the River Bus.

In planning for river  transit, TfL differentiates between commuter transportation and tourist services.

-- TfL River services
-- London River Services map and guide, Tfl (speaking of branding, it uses the same design style as other London transit services)
-- London River Services map, 2018

Ferry trips on the Thames tend to be slower than rail, but nicer, with coffee service and newspapers. Ivan argues that they should be marketed and priced as premium services, with the extra revenues used to support other aspects of the transit system.

And in London, they are.

(By contrast, most ferry fares in other places fares are higher too, but the services aren't necessarily marketed as premium.  But there is a recognition that water transit costs more to provide, but it's worth paying more because it may be the only option because there aren't bridges to the mainland, or it is less congested compared to bridges, etc.)

That seems like a sensible approach for pricing ferry/water taxi service in London and elsewhere.

While the individual fare for ferry service in London is higher than riding the Underground--2x to 4x higher than a single fare, they've slacked off raising River Bus fares, and because of the Crossrail cash crunch, expansions to the system have been delayed.

Past writings on water-based transit include:

-- "Metrorail shutdown south of AlexandriaNational Airport would have been a good opportunity to promote ferry service," 2019
-- "Instead of a third Chesapeake Bay Bridge, why not start out with a fast ferry from Rock Hall to Baltimore?," 2018
-- "Implementing transit services (water taxi) before the market will support them," 2017

Changing minds: Ken Livingstone, former Mayor of London versus most politicians, including Bill DeBlasio. In talking with Ivan about London's use of articulated buses instead of double deck buses, I wondered why they wanted to use articulateds, because double deck buses are so signature to London's identity. He said it was because there is only one entry door on a double deck buses, and to reduce bus dwell time, they wanted multi-door entry and exit.

Livingstone wasn't favorable, but as Ivan said "He listened [taking in what people said and then actually considering it}" and he changed his mind, based on the recommendations of the transit planners.

(In the vein of successors countermanding the decisions of predecessors, Boris Johnson made the decision to remove articulated buses from the London bus fleet.)

Many politicians don't listen, let alone consider what's been said and change their minds.