Politics & Government

Group Discusses Ways to Better Run the Ferries

Department of Transportation is trying to establish a list of recommendations to present to the governor on how to operate the Connecticut ferries more efficiently.

Residents, town officials and state senators joined members of the Department of Transportation to discuss ways of making the Connecticut ferries run more efficiently Wednesday night at the DOT building in Newington.

said the purpose of the Ferry Working Group is to establish a “business plan for the ferries.”  The “overall plan” would include a list of recommendations that the commissioner would present to the governor on how to better operate the ferries.

“We need to be ready for next season and beyond. This process will yield a result that at some point has to taken to the administration.” 

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One plan would focus on staffing, improvements to the facilities and the boats and the fares.  A separate plan would include ideas on how to create revenue for the ferries. The plans must be completed by February, which would allow for the recommendations to be implemented before next season, Redeker said.

On Wednesday evening, the group discussed suggestions for generating revenue including traditional methods like federal grants. However, DOT officials felt it will be difficult to obtain these grants because they would be competing for money that usually goes to larger ferries like the one in Long Island.

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The group focused on the tourism and historical aspect of the ferries. Members discussed the possibly of having advertisements on the back of ferry tickets, t-shirts and flat donations being made to the .

The state cannot solicit donations, however a non-profit like the Friends of Connecticut Ferries can accept them on their behalf. The DOT is trying to determine how money raised by the Friends of Connecticut Ferries can be transferred over to a fund for the ferries.

The group talked at length about creating license plates with a ferry logo on them. However, the group would need 400 applicants to have the plates made. The cost and revenue generated from the license plates was unknown at the time of the meeting. However, all the revenue generated from the license plate sales would be used for the Connecticut Ferries.

John Wieder of Rocky Hill said Paul Carr of Friends of Connecticut Ferries knows of about 3,000 people who are interested in helping the ferries and felt 400 applicants could be obtained.

The next meeting of the Ferry Working Group will during the first or second week of November. The meetings are open to the general public and anyone can email suggestions to Philip.scarrozzo@ct.gov.

The DOT has already received 232 emails, 81 phone messages and a petition with over 1,000 signatures in support of the ferries. They did receive six emails from residents who were in favor of closing the ferries.


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