The Peconic Jitney, a passenger-only ferry service that operated a pilot program connecting Sag Harbor to Greenport back in 2012, is seeking to do so again, this time with a formal five-year contract with the Sag Harbor Village Board.
The agreement they seek would allow the ferry to operate seasonally during the summer “and into the shoulder months,” according to Hampton Jitney president Geoffrey Lynch. All service would conclude by Columbus Day.
The village board seemed cautiously enthusiastic about the proposal at its meeting Tuesday night, voting unanimously to set a public hearing to consider it. A change in code would be required. Liz Vail, the village attorney, explained that the code was changed to allow the service in 2012, but the change was only temporary and would need to be reinstated.
If approved, service would begin on June 2. Seven round trips would be scheduled from Mondays through Thursdays, eight on Fridays and Saturdays, and six on Sundays. The ferry would accommodate 53 passengers and cost $37 for an adult round trip, or $30 for children 12 and under. One-way fares would cost $20 and $15 respectively. A passenger with a bike would incur an additional $5 charge.
The trip from Long Wharf to Mitchell Park in Greenport would take about 45 minutes. The ferry would leave Sag Harbor every two hours between 10 a.m. and 10 p.m.
To operate the service, Peconic Jitney needs a franchise license from the Suffolk County Legislature. Since Long Wharf and Mitchell Park are both municipal properties, the jitney needs authorization from both villages to launch.
Jim Ryan, Peconic Jitney’s general manager, said by phone that because of the restrictions of the franchise license, fares cannot be adjusted for the five-year term and so must account for uncertainty. “The cost of fuel is beyond our control,” he said. “A rainy day on Saturday deters customers. We need to charge enough to account for those factors.”
Currently, a family of four, with two children under 12, would pay $134 for four round-trip tickets. If they drove two miles up the road to South Ferry, took that ferry to Shelter Island, drove across to the North Ferry and took that to Greenport, it would take at least twice as long but would cost less than half the jitney charge, about $60 for the round trip by car.
After the 2012 pilot program, Clifford Clark, owner of South Ferry, wrote a letter of support for the Peconic Jitney service. “Though it may be perceived as a competition to the South Ferry, I feel it is actually an asset to the greater good,” he said. “These are honorable people who know what they are doing.”
Back at the board meeting, Mr. Lynch read a letter to the board about the passenger ferry proposal. The ferry, he said, promoted tourism and created an alternative mode of transportation between the villages. Roadway usage and parking would be reduced, and foot traffic would increase in Sag Harbor.
“What’s the dwell time at the end of the wharf, during embarking and disembarking?” asked Aidan Corish, a village trustee.
“We’ll be in harbor at dock for 15 minutes,” Mr. Ryan replied. The ferry would not use the dock’s entire tip, he explained. Attendants extend a gangway about three feet wide “and attached to the dock with a bracket,” that is wheelchair-accessible. In 2012, Mr. Ryan said, there was no problem keeping to a 15-minute time frame at the dock.
“Do they keep the engines running” asked Mr. Corish.
“They are kept idling to save fuel and reduce emissions.”
Mr. Corish commented that in 2012, Long Wharf had more of an industrial feel, but in 10 years that has changed a lot. “Today it is an urban park,” he said. “I love the idea of the ferry, but I’m not convinced Long Wharf is the place for disembarking.”
“We did spend a lot of time looking at other locations,” Mr. Ryan said. “We looked at the transient docks, but they are shared with other boats. There would be coolers and other foot traffic. It’d be an unsafe environment to disembark.”
“The safest location is the northern tip of Long Wharf.” he added. “You’re getting people on terra firma right off the boat.”
“Do you have stats from 2012 on which direction people were traveling?” asked Bob Plumb, a board member. He was worried about parking. Would people park their cars, hop on the ferry, and remove a parking spot from circulation for the day? “I don’t think the parking is irrelevant,” he said.
“It was just about an even split,” said Mr. Lynch. Half the people using the ferry were leaving Sag Harbor to visit Greenport, and half were leaving Greenport to visit Sag Harbor.
Deputy Mayor Tom Gardella also spoke about parking. “I was around in 2012. Back then, people were worried there would be no place to park, and that was not the case. Now, down at the wharf, we have paid parking. So, if you want to take a two-hour trip to Greenport, you can pay for parking and go to Greenport. I’m all for it. I was a fan of it in 2012.”
“In 2012,” Mr. Lynch recalled, “we leased the eastern lot around Pierson High School. It was one of the things that financially crushed the pilot [program]. We were expecting 30 cars a day. We had two cars a day and we were running empty shuttle buses.”
The jitney is in discussions with RoveLoop, a free shuttle service in Sag Harbor, to do some cross-promoting, Mr. Lynch told the board, noting also that Suffolk County Transit plans to operate in the village all summer.
The county’s S92 bus “is terribly underutilized,” he said. “So, there are some things we can do rather than go out and lease another parking lot. There are lots of things people can do not to drive.”
Steve Williams, a village resident and member of the board of historic preservation and architectural review, asked a question from the floor. “If there are more passengers than capacity, how are you going to respond to that?”
“This is a reservation-only service,” said Mr. Lynch. “We specifically set capacity well below so we can take walk-ons.” The ferry has a total capacity of 100 passengers, but would limit reservations to 53 per boat.
Mayor Larocca agreed that the tip of Long Wharf was the best place for the service to operate. “There is no other suitable site,” he said. There was a dock by the sailing center that was once considered, “but the utter chaos of kids on sailboats,” using the very successful Breakwater Yacht Club summer camp, torpedoed that idea. The mayor cautioned, however, that “the 15-minute dock time is something you need to understand and respect.”
No date is set yet for the public hearing
