Algiers to Canal ferry to operate only 20 hours a week with an $800,000 budget, official projects
A state transportation official is projecting reduced funding and reduced operating hours for the ferry that runs from Algiers Point to Canal Street.
DOTD Assistant Secretary Rhett Desselle told the City Council's Transportation Committee Tuesday they're projecting a ferry fund of about $800,000 that will allow the Algiers to Canal ferry to operate only 20 hours per week.
A number of officials at the meeting reacted to the projected reductions:
"20 hours a week is not acceptable to the working folks," said committee chair Kristin Palmer.
"And I think going to 20 hours is virtually going down the path of dismantling ferry service," said Joseph Toomy with the group Friends of the Ferry.
Fay Faron, President of the Ferry Foundation, told the committee, "I've worked with the DOTD now for quite a while and I actually have great respect for them and I have to say that they think in terms of bridges and roads. These are not ferry people."
The Algiers to Canal ferry has an annual ridership of just over a million pedestrians and 175,000 vehicles and costs $4 million a year to operate, Desselle said.
