Godspeed, fast ferry
Dec 24, 2006 In The News
Farewell, Spirit of Ontario I — we hardly knew ye.
Rochester’s fast ferry has set sail for Shelburne, Nova Scotia, so that if its sale is finalized over the winter, it can depart for its new home port and not be trapped by the St. Lawrence Seaway, which closes for the winter next Friday.
Two things stood out when I read the article, one amusing, and one more interesting. First…
Mayor Robert Duffy said Friday that if Euroferries Ltd. fails to close on the ferry purchase over the holidays, he will consider sending a city contingent to Dover, England, to get to the bottom of things with the British buyer.
I can imagine a handful of large guys, all named Guido, with tire irons and baseball bats. “We’s thinkin’ yous guys owe us some money, and if yous value you’s kneecaps, you better be payin’ up.”
On another front, Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-Fairport, said she planned to pursue the idea of getting a small, privately owned and operated ferry back to Rochester.
“I still think it’s a great idea,” she said. “I’ve got some friends in Canada. Maybe we want to talk about something like that.” She declined to name to whom she would be talking.
Slaughter, poised to become the first woman to lead the powerful House Rules Committee, said throwing taxpayer money at another ferry venture is not the answer.
“We need something that’s well-run and privately owned and we don’t have public money in it. I’d like to see a smaller (ferry) that goes back and forth three, four times a day,” the congresswoman said.
While on one hand, I’m no fan of Louise Slaughter, and on another, I thought the trip I took on this ferry was really cool, I’ve got to agree with her here. I think a ferry between Rochester and Toronto is an awesome idea, but the way this one was implemented didn’t work the way it needed to work — as a private venture. If a private company isn’t making any money on it, what’s to think the city government is going to do any better job of managing it?
The way I understand it, while there were a number of things that financially broke it, one of the key shortcomings was a plan to attract commercial traffic (i.e. tractor-trailers), which would have significantly increased revenue. However, paperwork that would have allowed the ship to carry this traffic across an international border was never completed, and a large portion of their anticipated income never materialized. Thus, a huge ship was being wasted on a small passenger/automobile ferry run, and wasting millions of both private investor dollars, followed by millions more taxpayer dollars. A smaller ferry, designed primarily for passengers and cars, privately and properly managed, would probably do well, and would generate some business, and I look forward to the day when a more reasonable ferry enterprise returns to Rochester and Toronto.
