|
|
| Re: No new cars for Staten Island Railway (930372) | |||
 |
|||
| Home > SubChat | |||
|
[ Read Responses | Post a New Response | Return to the Index ] |
|
||
|
Re: No new cars for Staten Island Railway |
|
|
Posted by Michael549 on Sun May 2 12:29:00 2010, in response to Re: No new cars for Staten Island Railway, posted by Henry R32 #3730 on Sun May 2 02:42:03 2010. In addition, folks just have to understand that the last ferry fare at 50 cents -- was no way close to the cost of the actual service provided. At the time about 1997 the whole ferry operation was about 50 million a year, and the total fare collected from the from riders was 2 million dollars. Gee, like that amount (although size-able) is really not going to be making any differences concerning service levels, etc.Yes, the real reason behind the removal of the ferry fare was Mayor Rudy G., the new MetroCard system, and his idea of "one city-one fare". The costs of providing new turnstyles at the ferry terminals was going to be higher than the amount of revenue brought in. This is also the same argument about the Staten Island Railway, and was further proved with the building of a new fare building that costs ten times more than the fare amount that will be collected over the next ten years. But some folks still won't shut up about it. And to top it off, the ferry fare charged the riders was not going to make any difference, because somebody had the decency to burn down the Manhattan ferry terminal in 1991 - starting the almost 2 decades of temporary terminals and various adjustments to the loss of the terminal, the construction and reconstruction of the two terminals, and the various adjustments that had to be made at the ferry terminals, subway stations, the areas around the terminals, the provisions for new security, new security details and personnel, etc. In addition during this period - the acquisition of three new ferries, and removal of two of the oldest boats. Add in the accident at the ferry terminal that cost 11 lives, injured scores, where a few folks went to jail - and the adjustments and the aftermath of that incident. Now the whole ferry operation costs about 80 million a year - especially due to the new security and staffing arrangements needed after 9/11, and the accident. And through all of this the basic ferry schedule remained the same - at times very in-adequate, until about a few years ago, the addition of some morning weekend boats and a few weeknight midnight hour runs. The first major change in the basic schedule after about 35 years. It was a compromise since Mayor Bloomberg vetoed a unanimous City Council vote to have boat service at no more than than 30 minutes apart 24/7/365 - forever killing the hated hourly ferries. There's no way that the amount of money coming from the fare box for the Staten Island Ferry was going to have any effect upon any of those happenings. The ferry fare is simply a "mac-guffin" - something to rile up the folks who simply do not understand. Mike |
|
|
|