Well the Rochester/Toronto Fast Ferry saga is over. After two faulty starts the Rochester Fast Ferry will not get a third try, service will be discontinued and the Ferry will be sold.
Rochester’s newly elected Mayor Robert Duffy Tuesday rejected an $11.5 million loan request to keep the financially struggling high-speed ferry running.
Instead, Duffy said he will ask Rochester’s City Council to approve transferring $9.5 million in reserves to cover this year’s expenses and immediately try to sell the ferry.
The move by Duffy closes the book on the ferry, but raises many questions too! What will be done with the Port of Rochester development? How will the ferry terminal be used? Will Rochester continue to invest in this waterfront asset and will area tourism experts still try to entice Torontonians to visit Rochester and the Finger Lakes? What will happen to the businesses that invested and signed leases at the Port of Rochester? What law suits will materialize?
Though I fully understand and accept the financial decision Duffy was forced to make to terminate the ferry, it's a sad day and a great loss to Rochester as a gateway to NY and as a tourism destination. Hopefully the new officials will continue to push tourism to Rochester and the surrounding areas.
Hopefully too some lessons have been learned:
#1 - Unless you're related, never sell a 40 year lease to one of your most valuable waterfront assets for $1/year!
#2 - Even with a good exchange rate, never agree to pay the Canadians $250K/year for 15 years, just to entice them to build a ferry terminal to receive your boat! With 70% of riders coming from NY to Toronto, the Canadians shouldn't have needed additional motivation to complete their terminal.
Good Luck to Mayor Duffy, I hope he's able to turn all this around and give Rochester something to be proud of again.
