CTPS
CENTRAL TRANSPORTATION PLANNING STAFF
Staff to the Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization
MEMORANDUM
DATE
TO
FROM
RE
March 20, 2013
Paul Nelson, Massachusetts Department of Transportation, Office of
Transportation Planning
Annette Demchur, Thomas Humphrey
MPO Staff
Conceptual Scope for Ferry Compact Technical Assistance
The Massachusetts Ferry Compact’s principal mission is to establish an overall vision
for the ferry system in Massachusetts for improving the transportation of people, goods,
and vehicles by water. The MassDOT Office of Transportation Planning has requested
that CTPS provide technical assistance to the Compact in support of their mission. The
following scope of work provides an outline of the work expected to be included in those
technical services. The scope of work is composed of two tasks. The first includes a set
of essential data collection and analysis subtasks that will help inform the Compact’s
discussions and decision making. The second task consists of ongoing technical
support that CTPS will provide to the Compact. This ongoing technical support is
expected to include technical analyses and the preparation of additional reports at the
request of the Compact. All work done as part of the technical support will be
renegotiated as needed.
Ferry transportation differs from other modes for which CTPS typically does planning in
that many ferry routes are operated only seasonally, from late spring through early fall,
and are used predominantly for nonrepetitive recreational travel. The geographical
distribution of ferry operations is also much more limited than that of other modes, since
ferries require either navigable waterways between the origin and destination pairs they
are to serve or land-side connections between the ports and passengers’ actual trip
ends.
It is anticipated that a senior planner in the CTPS Transit Service Planning group, who
has extensive knowledge of water transportation planning issues, will be doing most of
the work on the tasks listed below. The time estimates below are based on experience
from previous water transportation studies in which CTPS was involved and a brief
review of the availability of information needed to complete these tasks.
State Transportation Building • Ten Park Plaza, Suite 2150 • Boston, MA 02116-3968 • (617) 973-7100 • Fax (617) 973-8855 • TTY (617) 973-7089 • ctps@ctps.org
Boston Region MPO
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March 20, 2013
Task 1: Required Data Collection and Analysis
Subtask 1.1 Conduct Inventory of Ferry Systems in the Commonwealth
CTPS produced a ferry service inventory in 2001-02 which included:
• Route endpoints and intermediate stops, if applicable
• Number of trips operated on weekdays, Saturdays, and Sundays
• Range of time intervals between trips for routes with more than one trip
each way per day
• Capacities and top speeds of boats used on the route
• Fares
• Sources of operating subsidies, if applicable
CTPS will update this inventory using various information sources including
but not limited to direct contact with boat and facility operators, published
schedules, websites of the operators, and the FHWA ferry boat database.
The inventory will include descriptions of all passenger ferry services in the
study area (which extends between Gloucester/Rockport and New Bedford
and includes Cape Cod and the Islands), including commuter, airport, Harbor
Islands (ferries and water taxi services), and multipurpose routes. The
inventory will include information about the services (routes and schedules),
ridership, fares and fare structures, facilities, vessels (types and capacities),
and, when available, maintenance and operation costs.
Historically and continuing to the present time, much of the ferry
transportation in Massachusetts has been provided by private operators. The
role of the private operator can range from owning and operating the vessels
and terminals with revenues entirely from fares or concessions to operating
publicly owned vessels and terminals under contracts with guaranteed
revenue. CTPS will summarize the level of private participation in providing
ferry services.
The inventory, including a summary of the role of private operators in
providing ferry services, will be documented in a memorandum to the Ferry
Compact. The memorandum will include a discussion of the determinants of
eligibility for federal and state funding programs.
Subtask 1.2 Conduct Review of Trends in Passenger Ferry Systems
This subtask will be comprised of a literature review of recent trends in
passenger ferry systems nationwide and a discussion of how these trends
may affect the provision of service in the Commonwealth, including ridership,
funding availability, and trip purpose. Current information on such trends,
particularly with respect to ridership, appears in news articles and published
studies by organizations such as the Transportation Research Board, and
additional information may be obtained through contact with operators. The
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March 20, 2013
findings of the review will be documented in a memorandum to the Ferry
Compact.
Subtask 1.3 Conduct Literature Review of State-of-the-Practice Ferry
Passenger Service Demand Estimation
As noted above, traditional demand estimation techniques have much more
limited applicability for ferry transportation than for other passenger
transportation modes. However, some published reports on demand
estimation for ferry service in other cities are available. For this task, CTPS
will conduct a literature review of techniques used to estimate demand for
ferry service and document the findings of this review in a technical
memorandum to the Ferry Compact. (This information may be used in
optional Subtask 2.2 below to estimate demand.)
Subtask 1.4 Attend Meetings and Present Findings
It is anticipated that CTPS will be called on from time to time to present
results of the preceding tasks to members of the Ferry Compact, the MPO, or
the general public. This task includes the time to prepare for, attend, and
present findings at meetings as necessary.
Task 2: Ongoing Technical Assistance to the Ferry Compact
It is anticipated that during the course of this project CTPS will be called on to
provide technical assistance for additional tasks requested by the Ferry Compact
members which are not set forth specifically above. This assistance is likely to
involve the following subtasks; however, CTPS will not begin work until directed
by MassDOT on behalf of the Ferry Compact.
Subtask 2.1 Analyze Benefits and Impacts of Ferry Service on Host
Communities
Proposed new ferry services typically have anticipated positive impacts in the
form of economic benefits and anticipated negative impacts in the form of
increased traffic on roads leading to and from the ferry terminals. In this task
CTPS will review available studies of expected or actual impacts of ferry
services in other cities. Additionally, CTPS will examine how land use in the
vicinities of existing ferry terminals in Massachusetts has been affected by
ferry operation. CTPS will use this information to develop a methodology for
analyzing the benefits and impacts of ferry service on host communities.
Subtask 2.2 Analyze the Massachusetts Ferry System for any Unmet Ferry
Travel Demand
Another potential subtask would be to estimate the overall demand for ferry
services as part of the integrated transportation system in the Commonwealth
and to identify any unmet ferry travel needs. This subtask would build upon
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March 20, 2013
the literature review conducted in Subtask 1.3 to develop a methodology for
estimating the unmet demand for ferry service in the Commonwealth.
Subtask 2.3 Develop a Process for Evaluating Ferry Services
For ferry service, as for any transportation service, evaluation criteria will vary
depending on the objectives defined for the service. Meeting these objectives
will be the justification either for starting new services or for continuing
existing ones. Success in meeting purely transportation objectives such as
moving people from Point A to Point B or reducing crowding on existing
routes/modes can be measured directly. Success in the form of general
economic benefits can be much more difficult to quantify. CTPS will work with
Ferry Compact members to determine the objectives for establishing new
ferry services or maintaining existing ones, standard measures to be used in
determining whether these objectives are met or are likely to be, and
processes for evaluating services that draw upon the findings of previous
tasks.
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cc: G. Bresnahan, MassDOT
C. Cenizal, MassDOT