Leisure passengers outnumbered morning commuters on Providence/Bristol ferry – Rhode Island Current

(Reprinted with permissions from the Rhode Island Current)

RINewsToday note: On Friday, Gov. McKee announced the state is suspending the Ferry with a 2-week notice, on or around January 16th. Noting that it served its emergency purpose and “traffic is flowing now” and the immediate crisis has passed, the ferry cost approx. $50K per day it was in use. If it had gone the full 3 months the cost would have been estimated to be $5 million.

by Alexander Castro, Rhode Island Current

Photo, top: A Seastreak ferry is shown docked at Perrotti Park in Newport. (Janine L. Weisman/Rhode Island Current)

Some Band-Aids refuse to stick. Consider the free ferry service between Bristol and Providence, arranged by the Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) as a remedy for commuters after the Dec. 11 closure of the westbound lanes of I-195 on the Washington Bridge for emergency repairs. 

The ferries make 18 round-trips a day with each way lasting 35 to 40 minutes. The three vessels in operation have a total capacity for 1,100 passengers. But by RIDOT’s count, total ridership was 3,285 people since the service launched on Dec. 21. (Those numbers exclude Christmas and New Year’s Day, when the ferries didn’t run.)

The day after Christmas was the most crowded with 422 passengers. The low point came only two days later on Dec. 28, when only 97 passengers came aboard. In the first 12 days of service, the average was 273 passengers daily.

The ferry service with three companies — Seastreak, Rhode Island Fast Ferry and Interstate Navigation’s Block Island Ferry — is contracted through March 29 when the bridge work is anticipated to be completed. It can be canceled before that date if RIDOT notifies contractors with two weeks’ notice.

But at least one demographic is excited about the ferry service: retirees. 

On Thursday, the 9:30 a.m. ferry from Bristol carried only seven passengers, six of whom were headed to Providence not for business, but pleasure. One of these voyagers was Bristol resident Kathryn Swanson, a first-time rider inspired by a neighbor who’s been taking the ferry to Providence for lunch at Hemenway’s.

Swanson has boated in the Narragansett Bay before, but never in the winter. She was likewise enthused at the idea of “using the bay for transportation, rather than recreation,” and imagined out loud what the ferry service could do for connecting the sleepy suburban Bristol to the more regular bustle of Providence.    

“It gives the town vitality, especially on a day like today when everything is so gray and quiet,” she said.    

Her husband David Swanson offered, however, that ridership might be higher if the ferries could accommodate cars: “People feel so limited once they get to Providence,” he said. 

Shuttle service brings passengers to and from Colt State Park, where they can park for free, and Bristol Harbor. Once in Providence, another shuttle can take passengers to Kennedy Plaza or the train station.

On the upper deck, Chicago transplants Jane Markham and David Cameron braved gusts of wind to take in the sight of the downtown cityscape. The couple moved to Bristol last year, and the ferry service offered a novel and convenient way to explore their new metropolis. 

“I’m not sure if we would have gone in [to Providence] today,” Markham said. 

The state will pay a maximum of $50,700 per day for the three ferry service contracts collectively. That doesn’t include another $1.2 million for fuel and another $358,000 and the barge rental in Providence.

Back at port, at least one Bristol business could confirm the ferry service’s impact. Admittedly, it wasn’t a crater-sized difference: “I can’t say there was a huge effect. It’s still kinda slow,” said Michelle Cardoza, manager of Empire Tea & Coffee in Bristol. 

But, Cardoza noted, the café’s Thames Street location in Bristol has been livelier with the ferry riders around, with “a good amount of people coming in before or after their ferry.”   

“It’s the first thing people see when they come off the ferry,” Cardoza said. “The shuttle drops them off right out front. It’s actually really convenient for those who do ride the ferry.” 

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Reporter Alexander Castro covers education and health for Rhode Island Current. He is also a curator who covers and critiques arts and culture. He is an adjunct professor in the Visual Arts department at Roger Williams University.