{"id":2177,"date":"2007-03-07T09:34:26","date_gmt":"2007-03-07T17:34:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2007\/03\/and_whatever_it_costs_thats_what_were_going_to_have_to_pay.html"},"modified":"2007-03-07T09:34:26","modified_gmt":"2007-03-07T17:34:26","slug":"and_whatever_it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/archives\/2007\/03\/and_whatever_it.html","title":{"rendered":"(And) Whatever It Costs, That’s What We’re Going To Have To Pay"},"content":{"rendered":"

The costs of operating the Staten Island Ferry have doubled since 2002 and the newspapers do the math<\/a>:<\/p>\n

The cost of the “free” Staten Island ferry has doubled in the past five years to a projected $83.8 million this year, a budget watchdog reported yesterday.<\/p>\n

Every time a ferry leaves the gangplank, it costs the city $2,515 per one-way trip.<\/p>\n

By comparison, the city’s Independent Budget Office (IBO) said the ferry service cost $40.2 million to operate in 2002.<\/p>\n

The IBO blamed much of the higher costs on improvements and changes made after the 9\/11 terror attacks and the ferry crash on Oct. 15, 2003, that killed 11 passengers.<\/p>\n

Mayor Bloomberg cited some of the same cost factors as the IBO in defending the ferry service — which dropped its 50-cent fare in 1997.<\/p>\n

“Whatever it costs, that’s what we’re going to have to pay,” he commented yesterday. “There’s nothing free that we have.”<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

You might wonder whether The Staten Island Advance covers it any differently<\/a>:<\/p>\n

The report estimates it currently costs the city about $3.75 per passenger for a ride across the harbor. But city Department of Transportation officials say Staten Islanders will continue to get the free ride they’ve enjoyed since the 50-cent fare was axed in 1997.<\/p>\n

“If you’re going to provide more service in this day and age, it costs more money,” said Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who chalked up the rising costs as necessary expenditures.<\/p>\n

“We’ll continue to make sure that the Staten Island Ferry provides good service,” Bloomberg said. “And whatever it costs, that’s what we’re going to have to pay.”<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The costs of operating the Staten Island Ferry have doubled since 2002 and the newspapers do the math: The cost of the “free” Staten Island ferry has doubled in the past five years to a projected $83.8 million this year, a budget watchdog reported yesterday. Every time a ferry leaves the gangplank, it costs the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-staten_island"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2177"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2177\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bridgeandtunnelclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}