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Go to Finger Lakes Times Online
Fast Ferry: Slow boat to nowhere: Area tourism officials are disappointed that Rochester is pulling the plug
Finger Lakes Times
fltimes@fltimes.com
Local tourism officials are disappointed at the news that Rochester will no longer operate the fast ferry, but they are still confident that the area’s attractions can draw visitors from the north.
“I think it was something that we were looking forward to introducing as a different aspect of tourism and transportation,” said Seneca County Tourism Director Moe Koch. “However, we will still be able to market our product of the Finger Lakes and bring people to the Finger Lakes whether it’s plane, car or whatever.”
“It was going to be a fun event to take the ferry boat, but I still feel that working with (the Canadian and American automobile associations) and the Greater Rochester Visitor’s Association, that we can still bring people to the region,” she said.
Rochester’s newly elected Mayor Robert Duffy Tuesday rejected an extra $11.5 million loan to keep the financially struggling high-speed ferry on Lake Ontario running.
Instead, Duffy said he will ask Rochester’s City Council to approve transferring $9.5 million in reserves to cover this year’s expenses and immediately try to sell the 55-mph car-and-passenger catamaran that traveled between Rochester and Toronto.
“The city of Rochester will no longer be in the ferry business,” said Duffy, who is two weeks into his term. “I’d rather take the hit right now and maybe gain some credibility ... as opposed to next year with an inflated debt, maybe even more uncertainty.”
The ferry, which ended its second season Dec. 12 with low ridership, ate up more than $10 million in startup and operating costs since being bought by the city in February.
Duffy said an $11.5 million loan, backed by City Council last month, would not be enough to cover mounting expenses and debt to the Canadian operator with money left over to begin a new seven-month season on March 31.
Bought for $32 million at auction, the five-story-tall ferry was relaunched June 30 after running for just 11 weeks in 2004.
In its maiden run in 2004, the ferry sailed just 80 days before operator Canadian American Transportation Systems shut down with $1.7 million in debt.
Yates County Chamber of Commerce President Mike Linehan, for one, wasn’t surprised by Duffy’s decision.
“When they first announced the ferry service — or the prospect of ferry service — four years ago, the financial model relied heavily on freight. We knew this freight business would not materialize. Without that business for cash flow, we knew it wouldn’t operate with a profit,” he said.
Linehan said it’s unclear how much the ferry would have actually impacted Yates County. He said officials have noted that 70 percent ridership was U.S.-based, while the other 30 percent was Canadian-based.
“Anything that’s an attraction would have been good,” said Linehan. “But the problem is, general awareness of the Finger Lakes for people in Toronto is low,” Linehan said, adding that he doesn’t think the ferry would have changed that. “There’s so much clutter and so many destinations fighting for that travel dollar.”
Wayne County Tourism Director Christine Worth, however, said a number of businesses in the county got traffic from the ferry.
“It’s disappointing,” she said of the shutdown. “It will impact us.”
But the greater impact will be on the region as a whole, she said.
“We’re kind of a smaller piece of the pie on that,” she said. “We hoped to benefit from it just because of our location, coming off the ferry and coming into the Finger Lakes.”
Mark DeCracker, president of the Lyons Chamber of Commerce, on the other hand, said he hadn’t seen any ferry passengers at the bed-and-breakfast he operates.
“It could be the fact that we’re farther away from Rochester,” he said.
The ferry shutdown does mean there is one less way for people to get to the area, though.
“You need ways to get people to the Finger Lakes,” he said.
That could make local efforts to secure a passenger train station for Lyons even more important, he said.
Scott Osborn, owner of Fox Run Vineyards in Penn Yan, also was not surprised by the news but had mixed emotions.
“I see it as a loss for our industry. There’s a whole excitement aspect of getting people to come to the area,” said Osborn. “But I can see the other side. It didn’t seem to make economic sense. It’s too bad a private company can’t come in and do it because maybe they could turn it around.”
Osborn said his winery saw some Canadian visitors who traveled to the Finger Lakes via the fast ferry. However, he added that he’s unsure whether a new customer base would have actually developed.
Michael Fults, director of sales and marketing at the Geneva Lakefront Ramada Inn, said he was surprised by Duffy’s decision to pull the plug. But because the ferry hasn’t been operating for long, Fults doesn’t believe the Ramada will be affected much by its downfall.
“We were counting on some of the tourism, but it’s very hard to track because it was not open for very long,” he said.
Valerie Knoblauch, executive director of the Finger Lakes Visitors Connection, said she was disappointed but trusted the thought process behind the decision.
“I have to trust the mayor’s analysis and his team’s analysis and their decision, since it was their financial investment,” she said.
Knoblauch doesn’t believe the decision will have a negative impact on the numbers of Canadians coming to the Finger Lakes, since the tourism bureau didn’t specifically target fast ferry customers but has gone after the Canadian market in general.
The agency will have to make some changes to its Internet marketing strategy, but it won’t be difficult to revise, she said.
Canadian travelers will continue coming into the region by “traditional ways,” she said.
Rob Gladden, executive director of the Geneva Area Chamber of Commerce, had such “high hopes” for the ferry when it was first started that the chamber sponsored a seminar for tourism-related businesses to take advantage of the potential increase in Canadian travelers to the Finger Lakes.
But Gladden, who enjoyed his two trips to Toronto on the boat, followed the ups and downs of the ferry’s operations, including the mechanical and financial problems since it started running less than two years ago.
“Total surprise, maybe not,” Gladden said. “We’ve known about the problems, but we were rooting for them. It just didn’t work out.”
Glenn Cooke, director of the Seneca County Department of Economic Development and Planning, also voiced his disappointment, but like many others, he questioned whether the ferry had much of an impact locally.
“I’m saddened like I think many people in the region are for the demise of that boat,” said Cooke. “I had the opportunity to sail on it twice to Toronto and back. One was business related, the other was personal. Both were very pleasurable experiences.”
“[But] I think it’s hard to judge whether we benefited from increased tourism. I think the Canadians probably had the greater advantage of Americans crossing over if you look at the numbers, he said. “I’m hoping they’ll consider something like it in the future, but on a more modest scale.”
Times staff writers Denise Champagne, Craig Fox, Jim Miller and Gina Muscato contributed to this report.
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