So Long, Ferry! Hello Hovercraft! For real?

An article twittered from Wired magazine caught my eye, so I decided to do a little research to gauge the legitimacy of such a new-fangled, futuristic upgrade to my beloved ferry. A quick Site Search for "hovercraft" on the Staten Island Advance revealed quite a timeline of articles on the subject.

The abridged version:

June 18, 1976 "Hovercraft may replace night ferry"

At the request of the Marine and Aviation Department The Tri State Regional Plan
Association has submitted a proposal to the federal government requesting a $1
million demonstration grant to operate two high-speed Hovercraft on an
experimental basis on routes including St. George to Manhattan.

June 3, 2009 "A possible hovercraft for Staten Island"

This Mamba Jamba is apparently too speedy for the short distance, and is better suited for Manhattan to the Hamptons. Who needs the Hamptons with SI South Beach so close?

June 4, 2009

Hovercraft's vibe attracts polHovercraft's vibe attracts pol"

A Staten Island investor convinced Senator Lanza that hovercrafts are the way to go. However, the designer of the "wing in ground" (WIG) vehicle warns it's ""too fast" for a rush-hour commute. " Apparently if we don't jump on this design, Alaska, Canada, Greece, China, the Coast Guard, or countless drug dealers will.

June 9, 2009 "Way outside the box"

This editorial says the idea seems "more cockamamie than inspired. " The proposed fare of $5 each way seems unrealistically low, and the 200MPH cruising speed over 5 miles doesn't seem to make much sense either.

My verdict: I love the idea of exploding into the future, but I sure don't want to be on one of these rockets when the hydraulics lose power and the breaks stop working. Just sayin'.

"Passengers, Hold On!"

The Staten Island Ferry had a "hard landing" on Wednesday, July 1st. This time I was not on the 7:00 p.m. (or 6:45) ferry, but I was on the water. I was on a samba party boat. Interestingly enough, I was also on the water during the crash of 2003, in a water taxi from Jersey City coming back to Manhattan from visiting a client for work. It was very windy that day, so I thought the wind had blown the boat into the cement wall.

On Wednesday, 10-12 people suffered minor injuries, the worst being a dislocated elbow. How much do you want to bet the person with the dislocated elbow was on the stairs, flights, or landings while the boat was docking? $2.50.

The fact that the power can go out upon landing is a little scary, but since the last incident, it seems the SI ferry crew was very prepared and able to turn this into a very minor incident. My favorite coverage of the crash was from the New York Post article, mostly because they interviewed the snack vendor/barkeep, my new favorite guy on the ferry.

Another passenger interviewed said "A crew member came on the PA system about 25 seconds before impact and said, 'Passengers, hold on! Passengers, hold on!' " 25 seconds is a pretty good lead time to get yourself off the stairs and braced for impact. Good job, ferry crew.

The verdict: I'm still sitting on the main deck.