By the turn of the last century, cities like New York moved more than 200,000,000 passengers a year on 50 different ferry routes. San Francisco had similar experience. But that was the pinnacle of ferry operations. In 1880, the Brooklyn Bridge opened and over the next couple of decades it was followed by the construction of more and more bridges and tunnels. By 1964, the Verrazano Narrows Bridge linking Brooklyn and Staten Island completed one of the last remaining gaps in the system of roads and bridges that connected the five boroughs of New York City and New Jersey. The only ferry line still in operation was the Staten Island ferry, which linked Staten Island with Manhattan. There, the distance separating the two boroughs was too great to bridge in a cost effective manner.

What was happening in New York was mirrored in other parts of the country, which had once relied on ferries. However, just as ferries were being dismissed as a means of transportation that was no longer feasible except in those diminishing locations where distances were too long or traffic was too light to warrant the construction of a bridge, they began to make a comeback. At first, the shift was too small to detect but as the momentum increased it could no longer be overlooked.

Why did ferries make a comeback? There are several reason but the three that probably had the biggest impact were: 1) major technological advances particularly in speeds, 2) rediscovery and redevelopment of harbors and waterfronts, and 3) increased traffic congestion and the difficulty and cost of constructing major projects like bridges and tunnels in an urbanized environment.

One of the first signs of recovery surfaced in the New York metropolitan area. As the ports transformed themselves, they tended to shift much of their operations away from the central cities where they first got started to other locations with good access to Interstate highways and major rail lines. The revolution in containerization also reduced the need for warehousing and the other industrial activities that tended to cluster around seaports. As these waterfront properties deteriorated, new opportunities for redeveloping the waterside became possible. Efforts to improve water quality also improved the attractiveness of living on or near a waterfront.

Coupled with these trends, was renewed interest in the types of amenities that people put a premium on today: scenic views, recreational boating, and jogging or bicycling along waterfront promenades. Nowhere were all these factors more apparent than on the Jersey waterfront across the Hudson River from Manhattan. There, the availability of cheap land and its proximity to Manhattan were just the ingredients necessary to fuel a real estate boom in apartments and condominium developments. One of the jokes that began to circulate was that you could pay three times the rent to live in Manhattan and the only view from your apartment was Hoboken. Whereas you could live in Hoboken for a fraction of the rent and you had a clear view of the Manhattan skyline. One of the developers realized that by providing ferry service to mid-town Manhattan, his properties would have an added amenity to attract customers.

So New York Waterways began operations in the mid eighties and became so successful that they started to add more and more routes to their system. Today, three other companies have joined them and together they transport more than 30,000 passengers a day on 15 routes that serve Brooklyn, Hunters Point, LaGuardia Airport, Yankee Stadium, Shea Stadium in New York, and Weehawken, Jersey City, Hoboken and Atlantic Highlands in New Jersey. To accommodate this resurgence in operations, New York City has developed or is in the process of developing multi-user terminals at several locations in Manhattan on both the Hudson and East Rivers..

Changes in technology have also played a major role. Advances in designs, materials, navigation systems and propulsion systems have resulted in ferries that operate at high speeds with relatively small wash and wakes. Many of these developments occurred in Australia. There, the collapse of a bridge on the island of Tasmania led to the substitution of ferry services. Since Tasmania already had some ship building capabilities, the local shipyards began to provide the ferries needed and, at the same time, they began to improve on their design. Soon companies like Incat and Austal were providing ferries for a world wide market. The Incat Tasmania, which is 91 meters in length, set the speed record for crossing the Atlantic with an average speed of 40+ knots.

Finally, traffic congestion continues to grow in many of our urbanized areas at the same time that opposition also grows to major new projects like bridges and tunnels. Armed with environmental challenges, citizen groups have been effective in stopping or delaying large new projects with increasing regularity. In the Washington metropolitan area, efforts to replace the Woodrow Wilson Bridge (which has widespread support from Congress as well as the states and most local officials) have been tied up in the courts for over ten years.

One of our fastest growing states, California, is anticipating the equivalent of the entire population of Florida moving there in the next twenty years. Since most Californians already live near the coast, areas like San Francisco are going to be challenged like they have never been before to find some way of accommodating that growth. The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) is projecting a 249% increase in traffic by 2020. If they can’t build any new roads and bridges some other solution is needed. This has led them to take a serious look at massive investments in ferries to provide for some of the travel growth. Other factors that have contributed to an increase in interest in ferries by San Francisco are the role they have played in helping move people in the area during recent emergencies such as the earthquake and transit strikes.

A Task Force created by the California legislature, the "Bay Area Water Initiative" has proposed a regional ferry plan that would greatly expand ferry service throughout the Bay area. During phase I, they envision up to 75 more vessels, 28 new terminals with the capacity to move 15-20 million passengers a year (four to five times current levels). In phase II, up to 125 vessels operating out of 35-40 terminals would move 25-30 million passengers a year, which is seven to ten times current levels. Efforts to provide the necessary funds and to create a regional authority to operate the system are under consideration by the state legislature.

With the increased interest in ferry transportation, a number of developments at the Federal level have occurred that could support these efforts. In 1991, the Intermodal Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) was passed that required states to develop transportation plans and programs for all modes. At the same time, that act provided new funding programs and flexibility to use existing program funds for ferries. For example, the new National Highway System (NHS) provided connections to all major intermodal terminals including 59 ferry terminals. Surface Transportation Program funds could be used for transit purposes including ferries. The Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality program (CMAQ) has a great deal of flexibility to fund projects that will have a positive impact on improving air quality. ISTEA also provided funds directly to ferries under a new Ferryboat Discretionary Program.

To gain a better perspective of this mode of transportation, Congress included a provision (Section 1207c) that called upon the U.S. Department of Transportation to undertake a national ferry study. The study has several components including a detailed inventory of all ferry operations. The study will also look at the potential for new ferry operations, the potential for fast ferry operations and the potential for alternative fuel operations. This last task is of particular interest in California because of their air quality problems. And it will probably become more important in other areas as EPA promulgates emission standards for the marine environment.

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) was asked to take the lead on this study. This may have surprised some because ferry projects are dwarfed by our other responsibilities. However, although the Department of Transportation is organized along modal lines, there are no agencies within DOT that have exclusive responsibility for ferries. Instead, it is a shared responsibility that principally involves FHWA, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), the Maritime Administration (MARAD) and the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG). FHWA had always considered ferries as a viable alternative for connecting federal roads when the cost of bridges or tunnels are too expensive. Today, FHWA also administers the Ferryboat Discretionary Program and it manages other federal programs that have increased flexibility. FTA provides capital and operating funds for ferry operations particularly in urbanized areas. MARAD helps finance the construction of vessels and the Coast Guard is responsible for marine safety. So, although FHWA has the lead, the other agencies are very much involved in the effort.

After reviewing the available information of the ferry systems and defining the parameters of the study, actual work began in earnest earlier this year. The Volpe Center in Cambridge, MA, which is an arm of the DOT, was contracted to undertake a survey of the 222 ferry operators that were identified. We anticipate completing the survey by June and then to begin analyzing the results.

At the same time that the survey is underway, a series of focus groups are being conducted among operators and public transportation agencies to evaluate the potential for new and or fast ferry operations. Among some of the preliminary findings are the need to coordinate and integrate the ferry systems with the other modes of transportation. Also, many of the impediments to establishing new services are more related to local conditions and regulations rather than state or federal ones. Operators must first resolve the landside issues related to terminal location and how passengers will arrive and depart before they can begin to make serious decisions about vessel acquisition and operation.

The potential for fast ferries is well established. They have been operating throughout the world for the past twenty years. Each year, new designs emerge, power plants are improved and speeds increase. At first, the U.S. lagged behind other parts of the world, but that’s beginning to change. American shipyards have obtained licensing agreements from foreign ship builders and they are now producing state of the art vessels as well. Fourteen fast ferry vessels are now under construction in the U.S.

But speed comes at a price. Fast ferries cost considerably more to operate than conventional speed ferries, and the time saved has to be considered in the context of the entire trip. Unless you can embark and disembark quickly, and do not have to wait too long to transfer to another mode, that time saved could quickly evaporate. Some feel that the advantages of fast ferries become more apparent when the ferry route exceeds seven miles.

Although fast ferries have proven to be highly successful, they do have their critics. Issues have been raised about the effects of their wash and wave on shoreline erosion as well as their impact on wildlife. Considering their speeds, the size of their waves is quite small. But it has different energy characteristics than other types of waves. Studies are underway not only in the U.S. but also in Europe to learn more about these impacts. Another concern is safety. In the past ferries have been one of the safest modes of transportation but could that change if speeds increased? The Coast Guard is currently holding hearings on better ways to manage marine traffic on congested waterways.

It is difficult to adequately assess the potential for alternative fueled vessels because there are so few in operation throughout the world. The most likely candidates for consideration are probably compressed natural gas (CNG) or liquid natural gas (LNG). Some have suggested hydrogen fuel cells as well. Although fuel cells are still in the experimental stage, there are a few vessels operating on natural gas. Moreover, natural gas is being relied on more and more in the transit industry. About 20% of new buses operate on CNG or LNG. Their experience with this fuel is revealing. Two transit agencies in California, Sacremento Regional Transit District and the SunLine Transit Agency, who now rely on natural gas, found that their initial investment was considerably higher but the engine performance improved and required much less maintenance. After about seven years of operation, the overall cost of the new buses was less.

For anyone vacationing in Maine or Nova Scotia, Canada, one of the highlights of their trip is likely to be the fast ferry crossing the Gulf of Maine. There are three ways of getting to Yarmouth. You can either drive up the coast of Maine, cross into New Brunswick, Canada and continue along the coast until you reach Nova Scotia. Then you have to drive down the coast of Nova Scotia until you reach Yarmouth. In all, the trip by land is over 600 miles. Or, you can drive to Portland and take the overnight cruise ferry to Yarmouth. A shorter way is to take the high speed ferry called "The Cat" directly across the Gulf and you can cut about 400 miles off the trip. Moreover, you can make the crossing in about 2 hours and 45 minutes. "The Cat" is one of those state of the art vessels built by the Australians. It carries 900 passengers, and 240 vehicles at speeds approaching 50 knots. It is powered by four engines capable of producing 38,000 hp. The engines are water jets and they ingest the equivalent of two Olympic sized swimming pools of water every second.

Before they acquired "The Cat", Bay Ferries operated a conventional speed vessel that took six hours to make the crossing. As a result, each vessel could only make one round trip per day. Now "The Cat" makes two round trips per day. Since it began operating, the number of passengers has doubled.

This kind of ferry is now being proposed for longer coastal routes and for crossing the Great Lakes.

After years of neglect, both of these cities are experiencing a major redevelopment of their downtown areas. A key factor in each case is the proximity to the waterfront. Considering their sizes, the amount of redevelopment that is occurring is really impressive. Not only have the decaying docks and warehouses been replaced, but museums, ball parks, shopping malls, condominiums, town houses and office buildings have taken their places.

Although the scale of redevelopment in Portsmouth is not quite as advanced as it is in Norfolk, it is well underway, and linking the two areas is a ferry system operated by the Hampton Roads Transit Authority (HRTA). Since the two cities are only separated by the Elizabeth River, a conventional ferry was all that was needed, but they elected to use an old fashion paddle wheel design to encourage tourists to use the system. Even more surprising is that one of their three ferries operates on 100% natural gas.

When HRTA learned that the local gas company was launching a pilot program to explore the potential for using natural gas for transportation, they began to consider the possibility of operating one of their ferries with natural gas. What made this so unique was that until then, there were no ferries operating anywhere throughout the world on all natural gas. There were a couple of ferries operating in British Columbia primarily on natural gas but those vessels also operated on diesel fuel as well.

Since natural gas would require very large storage tanks, it must be either compressed (CNG) or liquified (LNG) to make it practical to use. And this raises safety concerns. CNG is kept at very high pressure and it requires high pressure fittings and relief valves. LNG maybe even more volatile to use. Before the Coast Guard could certify the vessel, they had to carefully review all elements of the design. However, since CNG is just beginning to be used industrial standards are still evolving. Today, this vessel is in service and operates on a daily basis. By all accounts it is a success.

Ferries have been operating across Long Island Sound for over 150 years. In fact, one of the early investors in the Bridgeport-Port Jefferson Steamship Co. operating ferry service between Bridgeport, CT and Port Jefferson, Long Island was none other than P.T Barnum.