In its ongoing infinite management wisdom, the Delaware River & Bay Authority (DRBA), announced a planned rate hike for the Cape May/Lewes ferry service. A spokesman said they also plan on reducing the number of trips. The reason, he said, was due to decreased ridership, which resulted in decreased revenue. Duh! Oh yeah, and they also intend to add a fuel surcharge if the price of diesel fuel exceeds $2.50 per gallon.
Okay, here we go again, in an attempt to explain why the ferry service has never made a profit since its inception. The time to increase prices for anything is when demand is UP, not down. There are reasons why fewer people are using the ferry, and none of them is because prices are too low. I have also never heard anyone mention that there are too many trips scheduled, that it runs too late in the day, or that it makes the trip across the bay in less time than desired.
Back when the service started, they used ferries that had been replaced by the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, and they worked fine, although they were a bit too deep-drafted for Delaware Bay. Some years later, they had new boats built, but none of them were designed for any significant speed. The thinking, apparently, was that these were not bridge substitutes, but mini ocean liners, or something like that.
Now let’s look at reality as seen by truckers, businesspersons, and families returning from trips. Coming from the south on I-95 to a location in Cape May County requires driving all the way to the Delaware Memorial Bridge (which makes a profit and subsidizes the ferry), then back down. This adds many miles to a trip, and can add some time, depending on the ferry schedule. If nothing else, it’s more tiresome.
Let’s now look at the ferry, instead. Assuming you’re traveling between August 31 and July 3, the last boat leaves for Cape May at 7:45, except for weekends in June, when an 8:45 trip is added. If you haven’t timed your trip exactly right, or get tied up in traffic, you get there at, say, 8:00. Your options are to either wait until the first trip in the morning, at 9:30, or drive all the way back to, probably I-13, and head for the bridge. Weekends during July and August have a last trip scheduled for 9:30.
We sometimes go to Georgia, and making it to Lewes before 7:45 is nothing less than a frantic drive, holding our breaths that we don’t get caught up in traffic. A reservation sounds like a good idea, but it’s only good if you make it there 30 minutes before the departure time. None of this makes any sense for late-night travelers and truckers.
The first step in making the Cape May/Lewes Ferry a viable means of transportation would be to schedule trips at every two hours, as a minimum, night and day, or at least scheduling the last trip for midnight. Yes, some trips would probably run at a loss, at least initially, but the important thing is to establish ridership by gaining the trust of potential riders. Just imagine closing the Delaware Memorial Bridge at 7:45 each evening, and you can see why the DRBA is way off in its thinking concerning the ferry. Availability eliminates the decision-making process of whether or not to get off the interstate and attempt to make it in time for the last crossing.
Of course, the speed of the vessels is another issue. The advertised crossing time is 70 minutes, but a minimum of 90 minutes is closer to reality. With the amount of money spent on the existing boats, especially the two “mother” ships, faster vessels, perhaps hydroplanes, could have been built. Faster crossings mean more desirability to travelers, and more trips filled to capacity. That’s not to say that an hour and a half to rest up during a long trip isn’t sometimes welcomed, only that the primary purpose of the ferry should be to get vehicles from one location to another, so speed should be of the essence.
That’s not to say that the ferry should be as fast as a car traveling across a bridge, only that a trip of more than an hour one way tends to discourage travelers from using the service. If the idea was to make more money on food, or in the gift shop, neither concept ever happened, and never will. It’s not only the fares that are priced immodestly. As to the food, the health department shut down all real cooking, so only packaged products are offered. Not really what you expect when on a “sea cruise.”
I predict that ridership will drop even more after the fare hikes, and the DRBA members will stand around scratching their heads, wondering why every other ferry service in the world operates profitably. The answer, of course, is that most ferries are not optional, and provide the only means of reaching a destination. When that is not the case, steps must be taken to make the service an attractive and viable alternative to driving.