ROOSEVELT ISLAND FERRY UPDATE FROM RIOC
STEVE SHANE, PRESIDENT OF RIOC, PROVIDED THE FOLLOWING RESPONSE IN REGARD TO ROOSEVELT ISLAND FERRY SERVICE INQUIRY:
RIOC has been supportive of ferry service proposals for a long time.TOM FOX, PRESIDENT OF NY WATER TAXI, HAS ALSO RESPONDED SAYING THAT COUNCILWOMAN JESSICA LAPPIN IS A CHAMPION OF THE PROPOSAL TO PROVIDE FERRY SERVICE TO ROOSEVELT ISLAND.
The owners of the Octagon are well down the road in the permitting
process with the Coast Guard, Army Corp. of Engineers and the City for
the dock and future route approval. RIOC has supported the application
and arranged for the Mayor's Office of Emergency Management to support
also as an additional means of egress for disaster planning purposes.
A ferry terminal at the transportation hub (tram and subway stations)
would be ideal, but faces large hurdles with Coast Guard, Army Corp.,
etc. West channel currents make service very dicey.
2 comments :
I recal reading in the WIRE a while back about the argument that the currents would eat up too much fuel to make Ferry Service pay for any service and that the currents when going against the tides would prevent ferries from being timely.
A few weeks back I attended a company picnic on Randalls Island where the only way provided to get there were continuous ferries run up the West Channel all day from 34th Street. Those ferries had no problems with the current at any time from 11am until 9pm that night. So in my mind the current issue was debunked. Gas / fuel burned may be another issue and the dealbreaker.
FWIW, NY Watertaxi has a Yankee special that goes up to the stadium on a set schedule, right by RI. Wouldn't they have the same issue, or maybe they did and came up with a workaround.
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