by Christopher Bonanos

On Thursday, as reported in the Times, Bill de Blasio’s administration announced a great expansion to the ferry system, and it is an ambitious one, consolidating the East River lines we have now and adding others. It includes new boats, new docks, maybe a newly rebuilt home port in Brooklyn, and service to every borough, with most stops along the Brooklyn and Manhattan waterfronts. It’ll start running next year, and the whole system is supposed to be running in 2018. And who doesn’t like a boat ride? Without question, a ferry trip is nicer than a subway trip.

But let us not think of this as a major transit game-changer. Ferryboats have been talked about (and, on and off, used) for decades as adjuncts to the system. They are not a very efficient way to move people back and forth across the river. Dig into the numbers on this plan: Eighteen boats’ worth of service, for which we will spend $325 million over six years, will carry 4.5 million people a year. That’d be about 85,000 per day — less than 2 percent of the subways’ daily total.

The ferry will be substantially subsidized, at a total of $6.60 per ride at first, less if ridership increases past the projections. (By comparison, your average bus ride is subsidized by about $2.20, and an LIRR trip by about $7.85.) The fare riders pay will be fixed at $2.75, equal to the cost of a MetroCard swipe. Riders wouldn’t get (at least for now) a transfer to the subway, so ferry-to-the-train commuters would pay twice. This plan does not include, despite some rumbles, a line to La Guardia Airport.