-doughboy t1_jacd65w wrote on February 28, 2023 at 12:39 PM

I'm in Sydney right now, and constantly marveling at their ferry system around the city. So easy to use and beautiful trips anywhere you want to get to around the harbor. We could replicate this here of course, but likely never will.

ch1ck3npotpi3 t1_jacf67l wrote on February 28, 2023 at 12:58 PM

The MBTA used to have a more extensive ferry system around Boston Harbor, but most of the routes were canceled due to high operating costs. All we're left with now is a dinky route to Charlestown, a seasonal route to Eastie, and two routes to Hingham and Hull.

https://web.archive.org/web/20030611073010/http://www.mbta.com/traveling_t/pdf/boats/ferryih.pdf

https://web.archive.org/web/20030403071512/http://www.mbta.com/traveling_t/pdf/boats/ferryoh.pdf

jtet93 t1_jachuor wrote on February 28, 2023 at 1:22 PM

The Eastie route was recently brought back though, right? At least that’s promising. I would like to see the service to Lynn restored too

senatorium t1_jacrqwl wrote on February 28, 2023 at 2:40 PM

It was, but I'm not sure it's permanent. They published the numbers recently (I wish I could remember where I saw them) and as I recall it cost something like $300K to run and didn't get good ridership.

jtet93 t1_jacz68v wrote on February 28, 2023 at 3:31 PM

I feel like Boston always does this thing where they test something for a few months and go “look no one’s riding it.” But in reality it takes much longer for people’s learned behavior to change when it comes to travel.

iliketuurtles t1_jad5l9o wrote on February 28, 2023 at 4:13 PM

Or they don't pay attention to the other factors. When they kept the T open later, "nobody" rode it because 1) it takes time to change behavior 2) Uber was suuuuuuper cheap then

jtet93 t1_jad661u wrote on February 28, 2023 at 4:17 PM

That was SUCH unfortunate timing. Ubers were like $5 to go anywhere and it was still a new thing, so you could get a ton of free rides by referring friends. That trial was during my prime “going out” years and we did use the late night T occasionally but if you had more than 2 people it was cheaper to Uber lol

iliketuurtles t1_jad8geh wrote on February 28, 2023 at 4:32 PM

Yes - I remember doing the math and it was actually cheaper to uber than to take the T. Now I just want the 3 mile trip to/from the airport to be less than $30-40 lol (The only time I use uber because it's so goddamn expensive now)