State considers tolls for ferry pedestrians

BATON ROUGE -- The state's transportation chief said Tuesday that his office is considering charging pedestrians on three New Orleans area ferries $1 per ride, the same that is now assessed to vehicles.

William Ankner, Gov. Bobby Jindal's secretary of the Department of Transportation and Development, told a panel looking at cost-cutting measures that the three ferries in New Orleans now operate at an annual loss of $8.5 million to $10 million.

Connie Standige, Ankner's assistant secretary for operations, said the other ferries outside of New Orleans cost the state another $12.2 million a year.

She said the costs include insurance, salaries, fuel and supplies but not replacement of mechanical equipment, which increases the costs even more.

The fiscal assessments came during at a meeting of an advisory group looking into ways to eliminate duplication and non-essential services in state government. The panel's parent Commission on Streamlining Government has already received a recommendation to terminate ferry operations at Melville on the Atchafalaya River in St. Landry Parish, on the Mississippi at White Castle in Iberville Parish, and either the Reserve-Edgard ferry on the Mississippi River or the Duty-Enterprise ferry near Monroe.

The three New Orleans ferries -- the ones at Canal Street and Algiers, Chalmette and Algiers and Gretna and Canal Street -- collect about $2.1 million in fares from vehicles annually but the state has to subsidize the operations from tolls collected on the Crescent City Connection to the tune of at least $8.2 million a year, Standige said.

State law allows the department to assess up to a 25-cent pedestrian fee for ferry riders but Ankner said it is not being charged because it would cost more to collect than it would generate.

"We have not charged for passenger trips," Ankner said. "We are exploring the idea of $1 (fares) each way as a way to address operations of the ferries."...