By THOMAS GRILLO
In his first public comments on the stalled Lynn to Boston ferry service, Gov. Charlie Baker said it’s too expensive and failed to attract enough riders to make economic sense.
“At this point, it didn’t generate the ridership that people had hoped it would generate and the price tag associated per rider is extraordinary,” Baker told The Item.
Baker made the remarks in an interview following his appearance at “The Future of Transportation: Paving a Path to Progress” in Boston with Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack and other experts.
The governor said the two-year demonstration project to launch the ferry that was paid for by the state was an opportunity to examine whether the service made sense.
“We agreed to work with folks and support it for a couple of years to see what happens,” Baker said. “Our message to people is: let’s look at what happened over the short, two-year demo period… see what’s possible with respect to how it might be organized going forward and paid for. And let’s come back and have a conversation again, after people do some homework on that review. I personally think that’s a reasonable approach.”
Earlier this month, the Baker administration denied Lynn’s request for about $700,000 in operating expenses for the ferry to sail for a third summer. As result of the controversial decision, about 15,000 former ferry riders are back on the commuter rail, taking the bus to the Blue Line or driving to Boston.
Pollack said the comparisons of the Lynn ferry to the MBTA’s ferry services in other Bay State coastal communities is unfair.
“The MBTA ferries cost half as much, and riders cover 70 percent of the cost,” she told The Item. “The Lynn ferry costs twice as much per passenger and riders cover less than 10 percent. There has to be subsidy in Lynn, like there is subsidy at the T, but the question is: what level of subsidy.”
Thomas Grillo can be reached at [email protected]
