NEW ORLEANS —
Inside of Algiers United Methodist Church Tuesday, a frustrated group of New Orleanians demanded answers as to why the Algiers-Canal Street ferry is still not running.
“I just feeling cheated. I feel very cheated,” said neighbor Cindi Hardy. “It’s part of our history here. It’s why a lot of people moved here.”
With no boats available, passengers are left to take a 30-minute (or more) bus ride across the Crescent City Connection. Just down river, two new ferries sit at the dock.
On Tuesday night, RTA CEO Alex Wiggins announced the agency was in the process of finding a new operator for the ferry and that they were awaiting the results of a report to determine when the new ferries will be ready to finally pass Coast Guard inspections needed to carry passengers.
“Our next step is the final written report, and we should have that in about two weeks, and in between now and two weeks, I am reaching out to the boat builder (Medal Shark in Morgan City) and we are going to make plans to get the boats back," Wiggins said.
While the new ferries sit, the old ones do, too, meaning no ferries are running.
“What I think I am hearing is that I am about to lose 50 percent of my business for probably at least the next month-and-a-half to two months,” said Hillary Hanning with Tavolino Pizza and Lounge, a business that has been suffering as a result of the lack of service.
Adding to the frustration is the fact the RTA has been unsuccessful in securing a charter replacement for the boats.
“I asked them months ago to look at a charter operation and they finally found one and it’s going to be too expensive. So they are basically telling us that we aren’t worth it for $180,000 a month for a situation that they caused,” said New Orleans City Councilmember Kristin Gisleson Palmer.
These neighbors, in the meantime, left another meeting feeling fed up.
“It’s a very terrible thing that we don’t have better control over our own ferry system,” said resident David Kaufman.
Wiggins says they hope to announce a new operator by December. A date for when the old ferries or the new ferries will be back up is still unclear. Wiggins says as soon as the report is complete the new ferries will be sent back to the boat builder in Morgan City to be repaired.
RTA is hoping to have the boats running by the beginning of the year.
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