YOU CAN BE THE PROUD OWNER OF A STATEN ISLAND FERRY, IF YOU CAN FIND A PLACE TO PARK IT
04.04.2011
In 2008, Jacques Guillet, walked out of a Manhattan Municipal Building, $152,500 poorer, but the proud owner of a used 3,500-passenger Staten Island Ferry. The former marina owner and sailboat racer had a plan to convert the ferry into a floating dorm for New York City's college students. The numbers seemed be in his favor: the city was facing high real estate costs combined with limited space for student housing. But there was also a big problem. Mr. Guillet had nowhere to park the ferry and the city was asking $1000 a day for berthing privileges. So Mr. Guillet did what many of us do with unwanted items: he tried to sell the boat on eBay.
This February, Mr. Guillet posted an ad on eBay for the 300-foot long, 1,640-horsepower, 2500 ton, bright orange boat. For just $500,000, the ferry could have been yours (the price didn't including pickup or shipping). 9000 hits later, there were no takers. The Wall Street Journal reports that Mr. Guillet and his broker, Pat Doland, are still trying to sell the boat. Mr. Guillet and Mr. Dolan have spoken with a few interested buyers. There have been nibbles from an antique dealer, a Jewish wedding promoter (imagine the awesome bar mitzvas), and a hotelier who envisions a floating resort.
The ferries have had a history of purposeful reuse. During the 1970's, one ferry was reused as a floating methadone clinic, and another two ferries were reused as "prison ships" for overflow inmate housing of prisoners from Rikers, where inmates lifted weights and played ping-pong - think of a mobile Alcataraz combined rec-room.
Other repurposing attempts have been less successful. During the 1960s, plans to convert a ferry into a mall with a movie theater never materialized. Other ferry owners have had dreams of turning their ferries into waterfront restaurants, but decades later, their ferries sunk into the Hudson River or were disassembled for scrap.
Mr. Guillet, who made his money in the demolition business, could always sell the 1960's era vessel for scrap. But why should an old beauty go down like that? If you have ever dreamed of owning a ferry, having a floating casino, club or swimming pool, now could be your chance!
:D
How tall and wide is the ferry? Could it go under all of the bridges from Orange Park / Buckman Bridge area to the Downtown / Riverbanks area?
By the way, it is an ugly wanker bright orange ship.
-Josh
I thought that's what Atlas Hovercraft (RIP) had in mind a few years back.....
A ferry is a great idea! I go to Orange Park at least once a week, and trust me the bus service is LACKING (see Stephen's story about taking the bus to the Equistrian Center last year!), so I drive and hate it :-(
A ferry would be awesome, even if you had to load your car and drive it once in OP. Think of all the urban core neighborhoods that would take a ferry to Whole Foods or the Equistrian Center, or a number of other places.
Quote from: wsansewjs on April 06, 2011, 11:51:31 AM
How tall and wide is the ferry? Could it go under all of the bridges from Orange Park / Buckman Bridge area to the Downtown / Riverbanks area?
By the way, it is an ugly wanker bright orange ship.
-Josh
Well Josh,,, we could buy it and paint it all white , or Aqua with racing stripes ;)
Quote from: uptowngirl on April 06, 2011, 12:34:30 PM
A ferry would be awesome, even if you had to load your car and drive it once in OP. Think of all the urban core neighborhoods that would take a ferry to Whole Foods or the Equistrian Center, or a number of other places.
What is wrong with the Buckman Bridge if you are going to Whole Foods since it is the only one in Jacksonville (Mandarin)?
A ferry traveling north and south would be more effective. Voila! We have a natural road that PAYS for itself (St. Johns River) not like those so-called highways cost to maintain or trolls banging on your door for not paying the toll roads after years of abusing it.
If you can pretend a ferry is like a car on the road (water), then your car would be...
"HEY GUISE WE HEARD YOU LIKE CARS SO WE PUT A CAR IN YOUR CAR SO YOU CAN DRIVE YOUR CAR ON THE CAR"
-Josh :D
It is actually a great idea.. It could even taxi to downtown...somewhere.
The Zoo.
Little Talbot, Big Talbot, Amelia Island Express Connection, Kingsley Plantation (There's already a ferry port compatible because of St. Johns River Ferry) at Fort George Island side.
-Josh
It might be a fun ride but is not practical from a time savings standpoint. Folks arent going to sit idling in the Florida heat for an hour waiting on the next ferry to arrive. They could have made it to their destination by driving long before this. You would need on the order of 3-4 ferries just for the St. Johns crossing to make the wait bearable.
At 4 dollar a gallon diesel, the ferry would be better suited as an offshore wreck. Not even the Mayport Ferry can make money.
Typical New Yorker, that guy is. Paid $150k for it, then realized he can't make any money with it, so immediately puts it back on the market...for $500k. Guessing he will be sitting on it awhile.
I'll give him a $100,000 for it and i'll live on it...it's bigger than my house and the views would be great....
Quote from: mtraininjax on April 06, 2011, 10:21:37 PM
At 4 dollar a gallon diesel, the ferry would be better suited as an offshore wreck. Not even the Mayport Ferry can make money.
Oh thats an excellent Idea .. Lets take your house and all your "properties" and make those offshore wrecks too... Perhaps you could join it all :P
Quote from: Garden guy on April 12, 2011, 08:27:52 AM
I'll give him a $100,000 for it and i'll live on it...it's bigger than my house and the views would be great....
Thatd be one huge ass house boat, Josh!
Good idea but i dont think the city let alone the local tax payer's want to pay for the fuel to travel that far up and down the St. Johns.
O.P. has double line train tracks running straight into the heart of Jax. The same line Orlando is using for commuter rail and will reduce that line's use in Jax.
Fixed rail has 100 years of proof that people like to use it and development likes to invest heavily along it's line. Let's not reinvent the wheel just go with rail simple proven winner.
Get the rails running!!! It certainly works in southern california, and many other places. Too bad JTA can't see past the bus.
Agreed ... both would be my ideal commute. I live on Fleming Island and would live to drive to a ferryport or train station to and go to work downtown that way. I've seen feasibility studies on both ferry and commuter rail from JTA's site, guess its just a matter of funding. I don't think any mass transit makes money, I guess it is just a matter of which portion will be paid by the rider and how much by the non-riding taxpayer.
The only way or place this would make any sense would be a connection between St. Mary's, Georgia and Fernandina Beach, Florida. A 45 minute to one hour cruise up the Nassau and St. Mary' River's with dozens of tourism sites scattered all along the way would guarantee some margin of success.
As for Orange Park? What demand is there? A commuter train could make the same trip in 1/4 of the time and at a tenth of the cost. Why would any sane person drive up on the ferry to avoid the commute to town when it would cost them much more money, to go SO much slower then our slowest roads?
Yeah, a ferry sound's all touchy-feelie, but there is really not a single location in Duval or Clay where it makes any economic sense, and we can toss in the economies of time, as well as fuel or dollars. Solving the commuter problem's isn't rocket science, but it sure as hell isn't a nautical panacea either.
OCKLAWAHA
I don't think we have enough people in our area to utilize a ferry of this size. I've made many crossings on that ferry in the distant past and the docking and staging areas are humongous. The Mayport ferry is really small potatoes compared to this.
(http://www.siferry.com/Wallpaper/DesktopWallpaper04.jpg)
Waer transit has been studied several times over the years - most recently a couple years ago. All of the studies have concluded there is not enough density to warrant a waterborne transit service. The daily average was around 800 people that would use the service regularly.
Atlas was looking at a cost of $10M for one of their hovercraft before they went belly up. So I wouldn't expect any company to come in and try to provide a service of that type any time soon. No profit in it. Like someone mentioned earlier in the thread - look at the Mayport Ferry and how much $$ it loses. And it only travels 3 minutes acrosss the SJR.
Quote from: exnewsman on May 10, 2012, 12:50:24 PM
Waer transit has been studied several times over the years - most recently a couple years ago. All of the studies have concluded there is not enough density to warrant a waterborne transit service. The daily average was around 800 people that would use the service regularly.
Atlas was looking at a cost of $10M for one of their hovercraft before they went belly up. So I wouldn't expect any company to come in and try to provide a service of that type any time soon. No profit in it. Like someone mentioned earlier in the thread - look at the Mayport Ferry and how much $$ it loses. And it only travels 3 minutes acrosss the SJR.
I don't buy the 'Jacksonville doesn't have enough density,' argument. There are dozens of similar sized cities with ferry or rail services. In fact on the railroad front, IE: Amtrak, commuter rail, heavy rail, light-rail, and streetcar, we are the largest city in the USA without any form of urban rail, but as I stated, there are many smaller places that already have it.
You are right about the size of the ferry not being scaled for Jacksonville, but its not density that prescribes the solution, it is traffic demand on any given corridor. As a city in the top 10 of freeway miles per capita, there is no place along the river where a ferry would be faster or cheaper. Boat's of this size guzzle huge quantities of fuel and rarely exceed the average speed of a city bus.
Everyone in town would ride that ferry...once. And as soon as the commuters realized the time and money spent per trip, they'd never come back.
OCKLAWAHA
It isn't about density for water transit. It is about access to the river front for parking, or even docking a ferry and the manatees. It just isn't feasible and rail is the way to go. The rail lines are centered more around where people live and density exist.
In Japan you can take a train to anywhere. Most Japanese don't even own a car. The more populated our communties become, the more we will be forced to consider mass transportation alternatives...
I have a house in Fleming Island. I used to drive the distance to work in town. It was a drive taking 20 minutes to 30 minutes usually, sometimes more if there was even a small accident. To escape the jams, I would leave home no later than 5:30 a.m. If I left home anytime between 6 and 8, I would waste fuel idling, and sit in the lines of traffic.
In other words, I would gladly take a train to and from work. I could read on the train too. Because I might need to do errands at work, I could have an auto parked always at work. And too, there would be a good feeling about the train....... it would be efficient and environmentally positive.
As it is, I now live downtown in my business, the house being vacant....... well, for the most part, while I ready it for sale. Anybody want a two story 3,200 sq. ft. house on the river, built in 2001? It has a 4,200 sq. ft., air-conditioned workshop 80 feet from the house, toward the road, on a piece of land 100' x 530' deep. The workshop is good for building airplanes, boats, autos, robots, or for storage. Woods on both sides, a good bulkhead, and a deep well. Five bedrooms and three baths. There's an apartment above the workshop for the uncle, aunt, or mother-in-law.
But yes, there seems to be a practical need for a train system between Fleming Island / Orange Park 17 / Orange Park Blanding, and downtown. I will guess that it would be used with a good volume during rush hours, and even moderately during other times. People could leave their vehicles at surface lots, each having a watchdog person, or at least cameras monitored by one individual. What's the delay JTA?