Less than six years from now travelers to the harbor neighborhoods will have access to the initial stages of what will eventually be a vibrant and versatile array of water transit systems that will link every waterfront destination in the inner harbor to a web of cross harbor water routes.
Plans envision a network of ferries, shuttle boats and water taxis arriving and departing from literally dozens of docks and terminals around the inner harbor, making water transportation a superior alternative to land based transportation for travelers with destinations along the waterfront.
This will not be a public transportation system, but rather a network of public/private terminals, ferries and services. The MBTA is not going to expand its harbor service anytime in the next twenty five years in any significant way. It simply cannot fund it in view of the demands for other capital improvements to the entire MBTA system. The MBTA is committed to running the new Russia Wharf - Charlestown ferry service and it may run service from East Boston to Long Wharf, but other than that, almost all of the service and terminals will be privately built, operated and funded. Because the plans depend on private investment, there are going to be substantial opportunities for creative business strategies. If hotels want to have private shuttles take their guests to other wharves for shopping or dining, they will be free to do so. Water transportation businesses will be encouraged to develop business shuttling and ferrying passengers around the harbor to various destinations. The hotels, restaurants and retail locations that will populate the new development will easily be within walking distance of these docks and terminals, providing a demand for their services. In short, creativity, demand and business opportunity will make harbor transportation imaginative, flexible and hopefully responsive to the needs of the residents and workers who will go to and from the new harbor neighborhoods. In turn developers will need to provide water transportation options if they have any hope of successfully marketing their pierside and wharf developments to people who need to commute to and from the financial district downtown, the office buildings in the Seaport and to the various amenities that make living in these developments attractive.
Driving the growth of water ferry services will be exploding demand. In Boston’s inner harbor there is going to be a 500% growth in ferry ridership by 2010. The expected build out of the Charlestown Navy Yard, and many of the piers in East Boston will drive demand for ferry and water shuttle service well beyond present capacity and the addition of retail and restaurant space to these developments as a requirement of their permitting process, and the required build out of the harbor walk will also create a strong demand for cross harbor transportation within the next six years. The demand and the traffic will increase even more over the next fifteen years as more and more of the waterfront is built up and abandoned piers are rehabbed into multi house housing.
What will make all of this cross harbor transportation possible is a string of docks, floats and ferry terminals that will be constructed all around the inner harbor as development takes place. From the Charlestown Navy Yard, to the piers in East Boston to the South Boston Waterfront, and the wharves in downtown Boston there will eventually be an array of docks for shuttles, water taxis and ferries at so many points around the inner harbor that a traveler will be able to go virtually from doorstep to doorstep. This week we begin looking at how those plans that will bring about this vision of inner harbor travel will become a reality.
Downtown Boston
As expected the most active terminals will be on the wharves in downtown Boston. By 2010 90% of the water passengers are expected to pass through downtown terminals from Long Wharf to Rowes wharves. Already these terminals are operating at capacity in peak season. Seasonal excursion ridership is also expected to triple to 880,000 riders a year.
Russia Wharf is already under construction. That means that two years from now an all weather ferry terminal with a bus shuttle connection to South Station and the commuter rail and the Red and Silver Lines will make cross harbor transportation available to anyone coming or going to South Station. In addition docks from North Station’s Love Wharf to Russia Wharf are going to be expanded and extended, some will see their present capacity doubled. Water taxi service will be available in the North End and on Commercial Wharf. The currently existing ferry and shuttle docks at Long Wharf and India Wharf will be extended. As the Central Artery is removed and the Greenway replaces it there will be inviting pedestrian access from Rowes Wharf, Long Wharf and Russia Wharf through the Greenway to the downtown financial district that will attract people to the waters edge and to the terminals. The growing ridership will mean that bus, bicycle and transit connections will need to be established, further encouraging water transportation use.
Most of the new accommodations in the downtown area will be provided by dramatic expansion of the docks and the services at Long Wharf, Central Wharf and Rowes Wharf. In the next five to ten years new 180 foot docks will be added at those locations and even India Wharf will be renovated to accommodate water transportation. The only obstacle standing in the way of making this transformation is funding. Some of these docks are owned by the BRA so unlike Russia Wharf and the development in East Boston and along the piers in the Charlestown Navy Yard there will be no developer with access to private financing who will be required to build out these docks and terminals. It will be theBRA’s responsibility in partnership with private ferry and water taxi companies to put together a plan that will attract additional state and federal funding that is needed to extend these docks and build up these locations to accommodate what is expected to be dramatic increases in demand for services from these locations.
The South Boston/Fort Point Area
It is no secret that the South Boston waterfront is projected to see the greatest growth in water transportation demand after the downtown locations. Along the South Boston waterfront all the way into downtown Boston, ferry, shuttle and water taxi services will bring passengers to the business district, transport BCEC visitors and link the Fort Point area and waterfront to the new residential, retail and restaurant destinations along the East Boston waterfront and to Charlestown and the Navy Yard developments. Demand for service to the South Boston waterfront and the Fort Point area will soar over the next 5-10 years as residential developments are built out and more of the hotels are opened in that area.
An expanded World Trade Center Marine Terminal on both sides of Commonwealth Pier will continue to serve as the primary South Boston ferry hub. A terminal may be added at Museum Wharf and it is expected that the terminal at the Federal Courthouse will be expanded dramatically to the extent that the Courthouse dock will become twin 120 foot long ferry docks able to double the current shuttle capacity, and also able to accommodate cultural loop boats and visiting vessels, including schooners, who’s presence will provide a picturesque background for the Harborwalk at the back of the courthouse. The addition of a flexible multi service terminal in the planned development at Fan Pier will see the currently existing exposed basin enclosed and protected by a breakwater allowing for the construction and use of a floating multi-purpose dock that would accommodate any combination of ferries, water taxis, and shuttles.
Along with the increase in docking facilities will be a surge in the demand for accompanying intermodal connections to link these terminals to the new development. Pedestrian ways, shuttle buses and the new Silver Line will all make the once desolate South Boston Waterfront and Fort Point area quickly accessible to commuters arriving from North Station, Charlestown, East Boston and passengers from Logan Airport, allowing then to avoid the time consuming need to take a circuitous land route. They will simply board a boat and in minutes cross the harbor to their destination in the South Boston and Fort Point neighborhoods. With so many terminals and so many private and public venture possibilities, the next five to ten years should see a dramatic growth in the use of water transportation to the Seaport/ Fort Point District. It is also expected that there will be a surging growth in travel by workers and residences, as well as increased demand for water ferry and shuttle service to ease accessibility to the planned nightlife activities, the ICA, cafes and other amenities in the area. These amenities and activities in turn are expected to proliferate and thrive because visitors will be able to use the enhanced ferry shuttle and taxi services that will criss cross the harbor to reach them more easily than by land transportation.
Note: For Ferry, Water Shuttle and Water Taxi information see Links page.
