We should keep the ferries but
get rid of the tolls.
All of the other ferries operating
across Louisiana are currently funded by the DOTD except for the ferries in
the New Orleans area, which are now paid for with money from the bridge
tolls.
What happened was our state
legislators got their hands on the toll money and instead of using that
money to pay off the bridge and remove the tolls years ago like they were
supposed to, they now use our toll money to pay for the ferries, to pay for
an unneeded bridge police force, to pay for lawyers fees and consultants
fees and endless expensive studies, and to pay for whatever else they feel
like spending our hard-earned money on.
Now the DOTD and our state
legislators are trying to tell us that if the tolls are removed in 2012
that the ferries go away???
Is this because the Louisiana
DOTD can’t afford to pay for the ferries? I think not. The DOTD has an
annual operating budget of $2.3 Billion. So there’s no convincing me they
can’t afford it – and up until our state legislators decided to take our
toll money and start paying for the ferries (and a whole bunch of other pet
projects) with it, the DOTD had always paid for the New Orleans ferries.
The truth is that more than enough tax revenues come into the state coffers
from New Orleans to justify the DOTD paying for our ferries again like they
used to.
Another disturbing fact is that
ferries in New Orleans as operated by the DOTD have some of the highest
operating costs per passenger in the entire United States. This tells me
that the ferry operations aren’t being managed properly or run efficiently.
With such high operating costs one would think that our ferries and
terminals would be first class, top of the line facilities. This is not
true at all.
Our current ferries are old,
worn out jalopies, which break down constantly, and the ferry terminals themselves
are antiquated, dirty, and deplorable. Riding the ferries today is like
getting in one of those trashy, skanky cabs at the airport. I think it is a
total shame the way the ferries are operated and maintained and I think
this reflects poorly on a city whose economy is driven by is tourism.
Our ferries and terminals need
to be modernized and renovated so we can encourage tourists staying in our
downtown hotels to take a nice ferry ride across the mighty Mississippi and
visit the historic community of Algiers. What a great way for visitors to
take a walking tour of a beautiful, charming community and experience an
authentic Old New Orleans neighborhood (and spend money there too). Having
clean, modern ferries and terminals would allow this and is an investment
in our core industry - there’s no reason why it shouldn’t be this way.
The Algiers->Canal Street
ferry should be changed to “pedestrian only” which will reduce operating
costs tremendously (and allow for more frequent trips). If you live in Algiers
and you need to drive to downtown New Orleans, then please feel free to use
the Crescent City Connection. These modern bridges were built at great cost
and are only 10 minutes away from you. Using the Algiers ferry to shuttle
autos across the river to Canal St while two high capacity bridges are
right next-door just doesn’t make any sense at all.
Going “pedestrian only” on the
Algiers->Canal St ferry will also eliminate the all of the dangerous
automotive traffic coming out of the ferry terminal at the foot of Canal
Street by Harrah’s Casino – there’s simply too much tourist pedestrian
traffic to have all those cars coming off the ferry and driving through
that congested area.
The ferries should also charge
$1 per trip instead of being totally free to pedestrians like they are now.
This will generate much needed income to help pay for the ferries. Believe me, a buck to cross the
river isn’t exorbitant or excessive - I was in San Francisco recently and
riding the trolley car there costs $5 one way. We could combine this $1
ferry fee with a RTA bus or streetcar transfer making the ferries part of
our urban mass transit system – and keep Algiers connected to New Orleans
via public transportation.