The transit authority took delivery of its second ferry on Monday, a 149-passenger catamaran named the Harbor Belle after a public naming contest that the authority admits it did not expect to take seriously. The boat enters service in May after crew training.
With two boats, peak-hour frequency on the cross-harbor route drops from every 40 minutes to every 20. Off-peak service stays hourly, and the Eastside landing keeps its 50-minute gap in the early afternoon, which the Ferry Riders Alliance has been pushing to close for three years.
The case for a third boat
“Two boats gets you a schedule. Three boats gets you a system,” said the alliance’s chair, Sam Whitfield, who has ridden the ferry to work since 2014. The authority says a third vessel would cost $9 million and that it has not identified funding. A state grant application is due in February.
Fares stay at $3.25 through next year. The Harbor Belle has a snack bar. The old boat does not, and never will, according to the authority, “for reasons of space and history.”
