NYC Ferry should be under DOT control, says comptroller

Scott Stringer wants the DOT to immediately explore taking over the embattled ferry system

New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer is calling on the city's Department of Transportation to explore taking over New York's recently launched ferry system.

Stringer's call for the transit agency to take control of the fleet, which is funded by the Economic Development Corporation and operated by private company Hornblower, comes after the service faced a recent wave of scrutiny over hefty taxpayer subsidies used to keep the network afloat and as Stringer returned a $84.5 million plan to purchase 19 new boats to the city with a list of questions after the deal raised red flags.

A Citizens Budget Commission (CBC) report found that the six-route NYC Ferry, which transports fewer people annually than the subway shuttles in one day, receives taxpayer subsidies that are ten times higher than subsidies NYC Transit receives per straphanger. The per-rider subsidy comes to $10.73 and is expected to surge to $24.75 per trip with plans in the works an expansion of the system expansion to St. George and Coney Island. Meanwhile, the ferry's operating costs have soared to $57.3 million annually, with city commitments to spend at least $600 million on the nautical network in the next three years.

The CBC report also raised concerns about the system's lack of transparency; as a private company, San Francisco-based Hornblower is able to evade disclosure requirements typically required of city transportation projects. Last month, Stringer even blocked the city's plans to purchase additional boats from Hornblower after a review of the procurement contract found that that taxpayers were being unnecessarily soaked for mounting costs.

"New Yorkers deserve reliable and comprehensive public transit systems, but not at the expense of transparency, accountability and fiscal responsibility," Stringer said in a statement Wednesday. "The Economic Development Corporation's contract with NYC Ferry operator Hornblower raises serious questions about the exploding costs and liabilities that the City is choosing to absorb, all while handing over millions in revenue to a private contractor—questions that to-date have not been sufficiently answered."

Mayor Bill de Blasio has fiercely defended the ferry system and its operation. On WNYC's Brian Lehrer Show last week, the mayor called the CBC's report a "short-sighted analysis" and bashed critics of the system.

"Anyone who thinks our existing transit system can handle all that [population growth] is somebody who thinks marijuana has already been legalized in New York state, and is smoking some," de Blasio said. "The fact is it's impossible to do what we have to do in the city if we don't expand mass transit options."

In 2016, EDC selected a $168.4 million bid by Hornblower to operate NYC Ferry for at least five years instead of a bid that was asking $31.5 million more but would have included boats, THE CITY reports. The deal may have seemed cheaper at the time, but now saddles taxpayers with $232 million needed to buy 38 boats, and with another $137 million allocated in the city's budget for future vessels, according to THE CITY's examination of bidding documents. The staggering discovery only deepens concern on the system's operation.

"We must do better. That's why I'm calling on the city Department of Transportation to immediately explore taking over NYC Ferry," Stringer's statement continued. "This has the potential to improve efficiency and public savings across the board—capitalizing on DOT's experience running the Staten Island Ferry, eliminating administrative redundancies, allowing the City to keep all fare box and concession revenues, and providing a level of budgetary and operational transparency that EDC has to-date refused to provide."

DOT referred a request for comment to the Mayor's office, which did not immediately return that request. Similarly, the Economic Development Corporation did not respond to a request for comment.