Can revived ferry stay afloat?

State officials are closely monitoring a new Providence-Newport ferry service, hoping the 10-week tourism project will be successful enough to justify its continuation and possible expansion to other coastal towns.

The service, which started July 1, has stirred up some early excitement on social media and among commuters who’ve seen ferry advertisements along state roadways. But the state is hoping the excitement translates into a high volume of ridership. Limited rider interest – along with the discontinuing of public subsidies – killed the service in the past.

“This is a public-private partnership we’re in here,” Peter Alviti Jr., director of the R.I. Department of Transportation, said of the new pilot program. “Some ferry programs operate entirely on the fare revenue that it generates and some need subsidies. We’re starting out subsidizing this, not unlike other transits.”

RIDOT, which is heading the new service, is spending $500,000 on the project, which will last about 10 weeks and comprise about 24 round trips per week. Seastreak LLC, a New Jersey-based ferry company, won a bid from the state to run the service and is charging $10 for adults and $5 for children, senior citizens and disabled riders per one way.

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The state, which will not benefit from any of the ticket revenue, expects to recoup its investment in federal funding. Seastreak, which also operates the New Bedford-Martha’s Vineyard ferry, could not be immediately reached for comment on whether the Providence-Newport ferry would make economic sense without the RIDOT subsidy.

But public officials, including Gov. Gina M. Raimondo and Senate President M. Teresa Paiva Weed, are already lauding the new service for connecting the two cities. Paiva Weed, a Newport Democrat, said in the statement the new service is also “a great way to capitalize on our most treasured resource, Narragansett Bay, and to help Rhode Islanders and visitors alike experience the beauty of our state.”

Alviti, who acknowledged ridership numbers were low in the past, remains bullish on the idea because of its focus on summer tourism. He said this strategy is a “higher and better use for this mode of transportation.”

Whether it will last beyond this summer remains to be seen.

‘We’ll monitor it and right-size it as we go along,” Alviti said. “I’m hopeful … we can make a more robust transportation network that includes smaller and parallel ferries that connect to the coastal towns, which people don’t get much of an opportunity to travel to on the water or even by car.” •

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