Q&A
Ferry fleet purchase and expansion considerations
0:34:55
·
3 min
EDC officials discuss the current status of the NYC Ferry fleet and considerations for potential expansion or changes to the fleet.
- There are no current plans for additional vessel purchases
- The existing fleet of two vessel sizes (150 and 350 passenger capacity) provides flexibility for different routes and conditions
- Stronger vessels are used for routes with more open water, while larger vessels are used on high-demand routes
Amanda Farías
0:34:55
That's really helpful to understand, and I will tell my mom that's a little bigger.
0:35:02
And then in regards to the fleet purchase option at a previous hearing in 2022, we got that the cost was around 235,000,000.
0:35:10
Have there have we looked at adding any additional ferries down the line and what that cost would be?
James Wong
0:35:18
No.
0:35:18
We we have not looked into additional vessel purchases.
Amanda Farías
0:35:21
Okay.
0:35:22
And could you speak a little bit to how the expansion of the ferry fleet benefited service.
0:35:30
Obviously, you just gave a great example of having different size, a capacity of the fleet.
0:35:36
And if if at all, that's added to the improved route times and and services that we have throughout the ferry landings.
James Wong
0:35:45
Sure.
0:35:46
So having the two sizes of vessels and some vessels that have slightly stronger engines than others gives us a lot of flexibility to ensure that we're able to operate in all weather conditions and using the right sized vessels.
0:35:58
So for example, a stronger vessel that holds 150 passengers is probably well suited to go to the rockaways in the winter because you have to cover a lot more open water.
0:36:09
Whereas larger vessels like 350 passenger vessels, which we do use on a variety of routes, including in Sound View are ones that just, you know, maybe they are coming less frequently, but they have a much higher capacity to make sure that we can bring people into the city for their demand.
0:36:25
Okay.
Amanda Farías
0:36:30
So we all love to talk about ferry fleet expansion.
0:36:33
Even though in your testimony, you have made clear that there is no call for expansion from the EDCs.
0:36:40
And at this moment, The citizen budget commission recently recommended considering a reduction in service in the highest subsidized routes.
0:36:51
Which NY Ferry NY C Ferry routes receive the highest subsidy?
0:36:55
If you folks have that on hand?
James Wong
0:36:58
So we look at the system really holistically, and we are not often breaking things down at a substeve per route level because the main thing that we're really focused on is making sure that we're supporting communities And it is very possible that there are places where there's high value, but maybe not quite as high ridership to individuals.
0:37:18
And so we want to make sure that we are supporting New Yorkers even if they happen to live further away.
0:37:24
So for us as we think about the full system, we are making sure that we are doing so with all of our any sort of routing options or schedule changes and trying to make sure that we're doing it equitably to make sure that people are getting the service that they need.
Amanda Farías
0:37:39
Great.
0:37:39
And I'm gonna ask her for the sake of the record, but it sounds like I already know the answer is reducing service on highly subsidized routes something EDC would consider?
James Wong
0:37:48
We are not considering reductions in service strictly due to the subsidy of a specific route.
Amanda Farías
0:37:54
And is there any plan to expand to LaGuardia Airport.
0:37:58
In the 2022 hearing, we held, EDC mentioned that this would be explored as a market rate route.
James Wong
0:38:05
We did put into the RFP some considerations around LaGuardia, and ultimately when we entered into negotiations and final contract.
0:38:13
That's not something that we took through to the end.
0:38:15
I would defer primarily to the port authorities perspective on this, which, you know, does influence how we've looked at things because their study has shown was that it was not the most effective way to get people doing from the airport.