Public funding for transportation goes back further than the eye
can see, from building the Erie Canal to construction of the New
York City subway and Interstate highways. In each case, the
decision to expend public monies was based on pressing public
needs for expansion of canal, transit and highway systems and
the belief that public investment would pay dividends in
economic growth. New York and New Jersey officials are now faced
with deciding whether privately operated ferries should be next
in line for public funding. New York Waterway, which currently
carries 32,000 passengers a day, primarily from New Jersey to
Manhattan, is experiencing acute financial difficulties. The
company’s president, Arthur Imperatore, announced this month at
a City Council hearing that, “New York Waterway is dying.” The
company has closed some routes and is planning to shut down
additional routes later this month. As with the region’s bus,
subway, rail and highway systems, proponents of public subsidies
argue that ferries provi