Post by ferryfast admin on Jan 15, 2006 23:15:07 GMT -5
Eastern L.I. town fed up with rising ferry traffic from Conn.
January 15, 2006, 12:10 PM EST
SOUTHOLD, N.Y. (AP) _ Frustration among residents in an eastern Long Island town is rising faster than increasing ferry traffic that brings cars and motorists from Connecticut.
Barbara Pfanz, for example, is annoyed at ferries that arrive from New London, Conn., at the rate of more than one an hour from early morning to evening. And summer is still months away.
Like many of her neighbors, Pfanz, 49, is frustrated that she must wait as long as 10 minutes just to leave her driveway as cars from an arriving ferry pass by.
"People get insane," she said. "And every year it is more and more."
Southold officials, responding to complaints from their constituents, are seeking a court injunction that would force the Cross Sound Ferry, based in New London, to reduce service to 1995 levels. That was just before dramatic increases in ferry ridership due to the development of Foxwoods Resort Casino and Mohegan Sun.
The lawsuit, filed in New York, argues that Cross Sound expanded ferry service at its Orient Point, N.Y., landing without town approval. Southold officials also say that when Cross Sound received an approved plan, it never carried out all required upgrades in lighting, landscaping and pedestrian safety improvements.
No date has been set for a hearing on the injunction.
Cross Sound provides the sole link between New London and Orient Point. The only other ferry service is 60 miles west, between Point Jefferson, N.Y., and Bridgeport.
The ferry operator says the injunction would put it out of business because its financial plan is based on the current level of service. The company also says improvements at the ferry landing were substantially completed years ago.
Cross Sound transported 143,673 passengers in 2004 on the Sea Jet, the company's high-speed, passenger-only ferry, it says in an affidavit. The Sea Jet, which began in 1995, would be eliminated if the injunction is granted.
In addition, 5,120 trips were made by vehicle-carrying ferries from Orient Point to New London, carrying 488,709 vehicles, in 2004, according to the affidavit. The number of trips is up by nearly 37 percent since 1995.
If forced to return to its 1995 schedule, Cross Sound contends it would have to cut vehicle-ferry trips by more than one-fourth, in addition to losing the high-speed passenger ferry. The company maintains it would lose more than $10 million a year.
"Those defaults would be fatal to the corporation," Cross Sound said in court documents.
It also would bring down its partner, Thames Shipyard & Repair Co. Inc., also of New London. The total job loss would be more than 400.
The company operates nine ferries and also serves Block Island, R.I.
The legal skirmishing is largely due to the absence of alternative ferry service on eastern Long Island. As a result, traffic has bottlenecked through Orient.
Attempts in 1995 to provide a high-speed ferry in 30 minutes between Shoreham, N.Y., and New Haven, Conn., was abandoned in the face of local opposition.
East Hampton, another possible landing point, prohibits ferries.
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Cross Sound Ferries
www.longislandferry.com/Default.asp
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Information from: The Day, www.theday.com
January 15, 2006, 12:10 PM EST
SOUTHOLD, N.Y. (AP) _ Frustration among residents in an eastern Long Island town is rising faster than increasing ferry traffic that brings cars and motorists from Connecticut.
Barbara Pfanz, for example, is annoyed at ferries that arrive from New London, Conn., at the rate of more than one an hour from early morning to evening. And summer is still months away.
Like many of her neighbors, Pfanz, 49, is frustrated that she must wait as long as 10 minutes just to leave her driveway as cars from an arriving ferry pass by.
"People get insane," she said. "And every year it is more and more."
Southold officials, responding to complaints from their constituents, are seeking a court injunction that would force the Cross Sound Ferry, based in New London, to reduce service to 1995 levels. That was just before dramatic increases in ferry ridership due to the development of Foxwoods Resort Casino and Mohegan Sun.
The lawsuit, filed in New York, argues that Cross Sound expanded ferry service at its Orient Point, N.Y., landing without town approval. Southold officials also say that when Cross Sound received an approved plan, it never carried out all required upgrades in lighting, landscaping and pedestrian safety improvements.
No date has been set for a hearing on the injunction.
Cross Sound provides the sole link between New London and Orient Point. The only other ferry service is 60 miles west, between Point Jefferson, N.Y., and Bridgeport.
The ferry operator says the injunction would put it out of business because its financial plan is based on the current level of service. The company also says improvements at the ferry landing were substantially completed years ago.
Cross Sound transported 143,673 passengers in 2004 on the Sea Jet, the company's high-speed, passenger-only ferry, it says in an affidavit. The Sea Jet, which began in 1995, would be eliminated if the injunction is granted.
In addition, 5,120 trips were made by vehicle-carrying ferries from Orient Point to New London, carrying 488,709 vehicles, in 2004, according to the affidavit. The number of trips is up by nearly 37 percent since 1995.
If forced to return to its 1995 schedule, Cross Sound contends it would have to cut vehicle-ferry trips by more than one-fourth, in addition to losing the high-speed passenger ferry. The company maintains it would lose more than $10 million a year.
"Those defaults would be fatal to the corporation," Cross Sound said in court documents.
It also would bring down its partner, Thames Shipyard & Repair Co. Inc., also of New London. The total job loss would be more than 400.
The company operates nine ferries and also serves Block Island, R.I.
The legal skirmishing is largely due to the absence of alternative ferry service on eastern Long Island. As a result, traffic has bottlenecked through Orient.
Attempts in 1995 to provide a high-speed ferry in 30 minutes between Shoreham, N.Y., and New Haven, Conn., was abandoned in the face of local opposition.
East Hampton, another possible landing point, prohibits ferries.
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Cross Sound Ferries
www.longislandferry.com/Default.asp
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Information from: The Day, www.theday.com