Interview with Rae Zimmerman (by Lynn)
2/8/2011
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Findings from her paper “To Leave an Area After Disaster”
o While a relatively low percentage of evacuees used ferries to reach their initial
destination (2%) a very high percentage used ferries to reach their ultimate destination
(16.9%)
 Initial destination =typically was a place to figure out what to do next--phone,
bar, etc.
 Ultimate destination = typically means home
o Percentage using ferries to reach ultimate destination higher than subway or bus
o Significant proportion of evacuees interviewed lived outside of New York City; those
who lived outside of NYC (e.g. NJ) were significantly more likely to use ferries to reach
their ultimate destination (NOTE: there is a statistic related to this finding in Table 8; Rae
will send sentence interpreting more clearly)
o IN SUMMARY: there may be a stronger argument for incorporating ferries into
emergency planning at a REGIONAL level; i.e. to travel long distances in the absence of
timely, functional rail service. This argument is not insignificant given the proportion of
workers in NYC who commute from outside of the city.
After September 11th, ferries enjoyed heyday, filling in gaps where transportation systems had
been impacted (see Zimmerman & Simonoff 2009, “Transportation Density and Opportunities
for Expediting Recovery to Promote Security.”)
Her take on NYC Office of Emergency Management: they are not actively looking at ferries as a
significant component of disaster response
o During the 2003 blackout, ferries actually proved an inefficient way to move people at
some points because many of the dockside mechanisms were electricity-based. E.g.
some people were stuck on Governors Island overnight (not sure how many)
o Ferries may provide effective transit relief in the aftermath of snowstorms so long as the
rivers are not significantly frozen (a rare occurrence even in severe storms). However,
there is still the problem of access: how do people reach the waterfront?
Funding: there are Department of Homeland Security funds specifically designated for ferries