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Rochester Ferry Dead

Posted by Tim / January 14, 2006

4 Comments

jan1406_rochester.jpgWe're a little late with this news, but thought it was worth a final post about the much maligned Rochester Ferry. From the ferry's web site:

On Tuesday, January 10, 2006 Mayor Robert Duffy made the very difficult decision to discontinue ferry service. All of the parties involved including former Mayor William A. Johnson Jr. and the Rochester Ferry Company had the best of intentions. But, the sad reality was that the ferry lost $10 million in 10 months and that was deemed too great a financial risk to the city of Rochester.

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matt / January 15, 2006 at 04:16 am
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Well... all that story with ferry that goes on and on for years seems like a big joke.

What else to say?

Is it really so hard for 'first-nation-in-the-universe' to set a functional modern ferry link to the largest city of 'other neighbouring' nation?

Is it so hard to make a viable plan for a fast ferry that would cut time and money - considering that it connects 2 points on a very (heavily) used transportation highway?

Really stunning....
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Victor / January 15, 2006 at 08:17 am
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This service was doomed right from the start. Did anyone actually look at their schedule. The first sailing was from Rochester. For someone living in Toronto the first sailing was not until 11am. You couldn't go over to Rochester for a day trip because the last sailing back was around 4pm. This service may have worked if the first sailing of the day started in Toronto then they may have attracted a lot of day trippers. The other 'nail in the coffin' was the placing of the Toronto terminal - too out of the way. Should have been much more accessable to transit routes. Another plus would have been to add a call to Niagara on the Lake.
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matt / January 16, 2006 at 04:58 pm
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I see that it was made for Americans only (to some extent it has sense - what can a Canadian seak in Rochester after all?)...

but as many things in the USA it was executed so badly... it had to fail...

Still I cannot understand this strange attitude to transport.

I read somewhere comparison of prices and travel time, which clearly gave an answer to the question why this one was a mistake.
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nelly / January 17, 2006 at 09:17 am
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What did this cost the TWRC?? $10 million? And who pays it, the city?
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