Starting this summer, Pawtucket residents can make a watery commute
between home and Providence via a pair of commuter ferries now under
construction along the Mississippi River.
Recently formed Water Cruises of Rhode Island, L.L.C. – of which the
not-for-profit Blackstone Valley Tourism Council owns 51 percent and
Conway Tours of Cumberland owns 49 percent – is paying SkipperLiner
Industries of La Crosse, Wisconsin, about $750,000 to build two boats by
July 1, according to Robert Billington, the council’s executive
director.
Water Cruises, which incorporated Dec. 8, is under contract with the
state Department of Transportation to run both 49-passenger vessels on a
“demonstration basis” through the end of 2000. The DOT will pay Water
Cruises $875,000 worth of Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency
Act, or ISTEA, grant money in return, Billington said. The U.S.
Department of Transportation funds are restricted to operations only, he
said.
Conway, owner of a fleet of 90 tour buses, provided the necessary
collateral to secure $900,000 in low-interest loans for the project,
Billington said, adding that the council had few financial resources.
Water Cruises is borrowing $700,000 from GE Capital Services, $150,000
from the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation and $50,000 from
the Pawtucket Redevelopment Agency, he said.
Water Cruises reviewed proposals from Blount Industries Inc. of
Warren, Merrifield-Roberts Inc. of Bristol, and Canal Boats of Miami
before settling on the Wisconsin maker in November, Billington said. It
chose SkipperLiner because “they were the guys that could really come
through with the timing,” he said, adding “we were on a very tight
schedule.”
SkipperLiner, which began building the vessels just after the
Thanksgiving holiday, has promised the 54 feet by 14 feet boats replete
with heating and air conditioning by early June, Billington said. Under
the terms of the DOT contract, the builder is subject to a hefty fine
for every day after June 20 that the job is late, he said.
“Not many people would sign that kind of contract,” Billington said.
Water Cruises will work with the Rhode Island Public Transit
Authority to make the ferry schedule dovetail with the quasi-public
agency’s land offerings, including public buses and a fleet of 10
trolleys for downtown Providence scheduled to begin operating in June,
Billington said.
The round-trip fare between landings at Taft Street in Pawtucket and
Providence’s Point Street dock will be $4. The ferries will run weekdays
serving commuters between 6:30 a.m. and 9 a.m., and then between 4:45
p.m. and 6:30 p.m. During off-peak hours, they will be used for “leisure
trips” for conventioneers staying in Providence or Pawtucket residents
who want to shop at Providence Place beginning in August, Billington
said.
A second high-speed ferry service between Newport and Providence
being planned by RIPTA means “one could actually travel the state top to
bottom,” Billington said, projecting into the future.
About 7,000 people travel from Pawtucket to Providence for work each
day, Billington said, quoting a council study.
Still, the demand for a water-based commute is unknown. Billington
is counting on it to succeed.
A flourishing operation could be the key to a larger revitalization
in downtown Pawtucket, he said. Not only would the ferries reduce
traffic and air pollution, “they will be bringing people down this new
highway which will hopefully expose them to opportunities along the
river front” from restaurants to walking and biking trails.
