No More Free Rides to Staten Island For Tourists, Council Member Suggests

By CHRISTOPHER FAHERTY, Special to the Sun
November 16, 2006

One of New York's few free rides could be sunk by the city government's desire for new revenue.

City Council member James Oddo wants to start charging tourists who take a ride on the Staten Island Ferry.

"It's a way of taking the burden off New Yorkers," said Mr. Oddo, a Republican who represents Staten Island, said. "How much do tourists pay for the Circle Line?"

At Mr. Oddo's urging, the city's Independent Budget Office recently released a report called the "Estimate of Revenues and Costs of Staten Island Ferry ‘Tourist' Fares."

The report examined fares at $1, $2, $3 and $4, while taking into consideration the extra costs that the program would incur, such as adding ticket vending machines and gates. The report also assumed that annual ridership would decline as fares rose.

About 57,000 riders take the Staten Island Ferry each week. Of those, about 41,000 are Staten Island residents.

According to the report, fare revenues would exceed costs and create a surplus at every dollar increment above $1. At $2, the city would profit about $4 million a year; at $3 about $7 million a year; and at $4 about $10 million a year.

Mr. Oddo had first pitched the idea to the New York City Department of Transportation about two years ago.

"The DOT said you couldn't do it, and that it probably wouldn't make any money." Mr. Oddo said. "This report affirmed what a lot of us thought for a long time."

The Staten Island Ferry became one of the few commuter ferries in the country to offer unlimited free rides in 1997 when a 50 cent fare was tossed to the wayside by Mayor Giuliani in what was seen as a reward by the Republican mayor to one of the only reliably Republican parts of New York City. Presently, the estimated annual budget of the New York City Department of Transportation for the ferry is about $80 million.

The chairman of the City Council's transportation committee, John Liu, said he did not think that the proposal would come to fruition. "In austere budget times this would be a great idea," Mr. Liu, said, "however we are not likely to pursue the issue."