Q&A
New fare structure and discount programs for NYC Ferry
0:48:01
·
7 min
EDC officials discuss the impact of the new fare structure implemented in 2022 and the expansion of discount programs for various groups of riders.
- Ridership has increased since the implementation of the new fare structure
- The discount program has seen a 600% increase in usage since the changes were made
- Nearly 18,000 people are enrolled in the discount program, including seniors, persons with disabilities, and low-income riders
- A new high school student discount program has been launched, with over 500 students signed up and 400 tickets purchased in its first 10 days
Amanda Farías
0:48:01
Nearly 2 years have passed since the new fare structure was implemented, has ridership increased or decreased during the time.
Franny Civitano
0:48:08
We are happy to say it has increased.
0:48:10
Yes.
Amanda Farías
0:48:11
And how has the administration publicized the new fare structure since 2022, particularly the discounts that are offered to seniors, people with disabilities, and other low income riders?
Franny Civitano
0:48:21
Thank you.
0:48:21
Yes.
0:48:22
The discount program has been one of my favorite things to talk about.
0:48:28
Since we made the change in 2022, I think we eliminated a fairly convoluted program that was the discount program before.
0:48:36
Before the 2022 change, you could only get half off of a monthly pass.
0:48:41
So you had to spend $60.
0:48:43
And, you know, hopefully, you took it enough in that in that month to make it worth it.
0:48:47
Now there's the one way ticket available.
0:48:50
So since that change, especially we've seen a 600% increase in the use of discount tickets.
0:48:56
So I think we've really made it more accessible to use.
0:49:00
We're excited that, you know, now folks who are in the fair fair program can also and then, of course, the high school students, which we're already seeing a a pretty good uptake for it just being, you know, 10 days into the program so far.
Amanda Farías
0:49:14
Great.
0:49:15
And do we know, Pardon?
0:49:19
How many seniors persons with disabilities and other law providers have applied for discounts?
Franny Civitano
0:49:25
We have nearly 18,000 people total in the discount program.
0:49:30
I don't have the breakdown off the top of my head.
Amanda Farías
0:49:33
Okay.
0:49:33
Is there an any intention for us to track it in that way and break it down?
0:49:37
Do we have accountability?
0:49:38
Yeah.
0:49:39
Okay.
0:49:40
And do we have the total number?
0:49:42
I know you broke it down into 2 of how many high school students take the ferry as part of the program.
Franny Civitano
0:49:49
When we do our annual surveys, we do ask people about age.
0:49:55
We so we we have like an age bucket.
0:49:58
We don't specifically or we haven't typically asked about high school or or student status.
0:50:05
And I would imagine that high schoolers are not the people who are gonna want to volunteer to take a a demographic survey.
0:50:10
Mhmm.
0:50:12
But so far, we have over 500 students who have signed up, 400 tickets that have already been purchased.
0:50:20
And then Hornblower is is starting very specific outreach.
0:50:23
There are about 50 schools, charter, private, and public that are within half mile of our landings.
0:50:29
There are an estimated around 20,000 high school students that live near landings.
0:50:34
So we're really hoping to find the the folks that live and go to school.
0:50:39
That's the connection that's gonna be most helpful.
0:50:41
So think as we as we are truly in this program we expect that 500 number to grow.
Amanda Farías
0:50:47
And can you kind of explain how the pilot was created with DOE, its success with the Harvard School Students, and any other additional detail you'd like to share?
Franny Civitano
0:50:57
Absolutely.
0:50:59
Well, thank you for your guidance on this program in general.
0:51:03
With the the Harbor School pilot really was born out of, we knew we had this big city wide rollout.
0:51:09
There are nearly 400,000 high school students in New York City.
0:51:13
We knew that that was a very large scale.
0:51:15
So giving ourselves the opportunity to work with Harbor School, which is obviously in a very particular geographic situation.
0:51:22
They have to get on a ferry to get to the school.
0:51:26
We worked with them for about a year and a half, offered them the opportunity to apply, and we saw about 1 fourth of their students, took advantage of that, and used NYC Ferry, or at least were enrolled in the program.
0:51:42
For the last about 9 months or so, we've been working weekly with DOE to make sure that this success this rollout is successful.
0:51:50
So it's it's all over their website.
0:51:52
We've got, you know, flyers in in tech different languages.
0:51:56
They've been emailing parents and guardians.
0:52:00
We will continue to, you know, hit that drumbeat and and as we also do our own outreach.
0:52:07
Just
James Wong
0:52:07
sorry.
0:52:08
I'll I'll I'll just add one other thing to that is In terms of, like, the learnings from that pilot, we were sort of dealing with the Harvard School on a one on one basis and also working with individual students.
0:52:19
That doesn't scale.
0:52:20
And so I think one of the big things that we learned that was such an important lesson, which is why we really were valuing the partnership that we had with DOE, was the importance of establishing a direct connection between students' NICS accounts and their ability to sign up for NYC Ferry.
0:52:35
So pulling those 2 systems together, and, you know, these are complex systems, making sure that they talk to each other so that students can get a code, sign a friend of Lucy Ferry, and then for the rest of the school year, they don't need to do anything else but buy tickets when they're ready.
0:52:48
That became a really important aspect so that assist a program like this can scale.
Amanda Farías
0:52:53
That was gonna be my follow-up in terms of how the agencies worked on an integratable system that spoke to one another.
0:53:01
And is there also a particular reason that the I know when we were signing some students up at Sound View Ferry Landing, the the parents had to have access in order to to get the students in.
0:53:16
Is that solely because of this the the system that is utilized by the DOE?
0:53:20
Yeah, we've we've found with, you know, with this large of a program, it's really important that the verification of, are you actually
Franny Civitano
0:53:27
a student?
0:53:28
Are you enrolled in school?
0:53:30
Are you eligible for this program?
0:53:31
Come from somewhere else, and especially when we consider that there are very strict and rightly so restrictions on personal information related to students.
0:53:43
Everybody takes that very seriously.
0:53:45
It made the most sense for them to be the real for DOE to be the real verification aspect.
0:53:51
And, you know, for us to be able to implement it quickly and frankly, you know, not to keep people waiting for months and months to see if they're you know, if if their verification went through.
0:54:02
We came up with a system where people could get the codes from DOE, which doesn't give us any personal information, and then we could quickly make that happen on our side.
Amanda Farías
0:54:11
And how quickly or how easily do you think it would be for down the line, let's say we saw wild successes over this next school year with students for us utilizing the system with DOE to offer to open up the opportunity for other students.
0:54:26
Some of the more recent conversations we've been having as the bill is now being implemented, and there's more information circulating.
0:54:34
There are parents that have reached out and even counseling from Avila.
0:54:39
So I'm sure we'll ask questions on some students that are actually moving throughout the city to go to Middle cool on the ferry system.
0:54:47
So how likely do we see with the program that we're using now that it could be expanded down the line?
Franny Civitano
0:54:56
Yeah.
0:54:57
Our focus right now is to make sure that this implementation go smoothly.
0:55:02
We are always evaluating service fair policy and discount policy, so that is something that we will look at
Amanda Farías
0:55:08
in the future.
0:55:09
Great.
0:55:09
The parents will be excited to talk about it.
0:55:12
And then at the time, the administration estimated at the new fair structure would generate as much as $2,000,000 in additional annual revenue.
0:55:19
Was this estimate correct?
0:55:20
And are there any other revenue generating opportunities that EDC is currently looking at?