Boating around the bottleneck A not-ridiculous-at-all idea for a ferry to South Portland BY ALEX IRVINE

It’s been about 70 years since the People’s Ferry Company closed up shop. Why not bring it back?

Chartered in 1885 by James and Percival Baxter after Cape Elizabeth residents (including citizens of what we now call South Portland and Scarborough) got tired of what they perceived as gouging by existing ferry operators (which were later absorbed by the Casco Bay Lines, but that’s another story), the People’s Ferry Company ran for almost 50 years between the Portland Street pier in Ferry Landing (later South Portland) and the Portland side of the waterfront. People’s survived challenges from a number of competing lines before the construction of the Million-Dollar Bridge put the company on life support; apparently it folded in 1932, and there hasn’t been regular scheduled ferry service between Portland and South Portland since.

That may (heavy emphasis on the may) be about to change, though, for several reasons. One, Southern Maine Community College is about to restore its dilapidated pier, providing a possible terminus now that most of the South Portland waterfront is in private hands; two, the Casco Bay Bridge is extremely vulnerable to bottlenecks resulting from suicidal residents, malfunctioning machinery, or just plain too much commuter traffic; three, the city of Portland is slowly growing more conscious of the effect traffic has on our precious quality of life; and lastly, city transportation director (and recent addition to the National Maritime Security Advisory Committee) Captain Jeff Monroe is charged with creating evacuation and alternate-route plans in the event of problems with the bridge.

Asked about the restoration of ferry service, Monroe says, " We’ve been thinking about that for years. There’s a new study coming out that’s going to allude to that. We think it’s a good idea " for all of the reasons outlined above. " Having a facility in South Portland would be immensely important, and we’re certainly going to add that to our strategic transportation plan. Right now we have a service provider in Casco Bay Lines, so you could turn around very easily and say, ‘Gee, we need you to add an extra stop.’ The question becomes, what’s the potential additional cost of that? "

A passenger ferry service with parking in South Portland, Monroe believes, would not only solve an immediate problem but forestall future difficulties. " Portland as a community should not be creating parking capacity, because it attracts traffic and degrades the quality of life, " Monroe says. " There’s a lot of people who work right in the Old Port area, why not have them park in South Portland and just hop the ferry over? It alleviates congestion, it would be more cost-effective than parking monthly, and it would alleviate the demand for more parking over here. " Monroe believes that more parking could be developed on the SMCC campus with an infusion of outside money (read: federal transportation funds; Mark Sullivan, spokesman for Maine congressman Tom Allen, says that the congressman " always supports the transportation priorities that state and local decision-makers bring to him, " but that it’s too early to talk about specific funding mechanisms).

Thinking about the big picture, Monroe goes on, " What you need to do here is discourage the individual transit move. You need to make it less convenient for people to drive. " Portland, he says is " on the fence " with respect to this issue. " We recognize it’s going to be an issue for the future, " while he, as a transportation professional, is paid to look at the future now. Investment in public transportation, he says confidently, is " worth it in the long run. "

Monroe’s South Portland counterpart Tom Meyers approaches the whole topic with a little more caution. To him, a Portland-South Portland ferry is " what we would call a strategic vision, an interesting vision that would maybe help reduce some of the need for taking cars across the bridge, reduce congestion in downtown Portland. It would be one more alternative to using your car. "

Is SMCC thinking about this? " Heavens, no, " Meyers says. " They currently don’t have adequate parking for the college. I don’t think that’s in the cards. "

SMCC isn’t the only possible location, Meyers says, but locating a ferry on the South Portland waterfront would " require a lot of thinking. " Bug Light is one possibility, although " it would be very hard to change green space there " into commuter parking. A new garage somewhere along the South Portland waterfront is " in the range of possibility, " Meyers says, but west of Bug Light Park, much of the waterfront is in private hands or leased to marinas. " The likely spots are privately held properties. There’s not a BIW terminal or a Fish Pier, " Meyers says, and the Portland Street Pier, former terminal for the People’s Ferry Company, is — again — constrained by the availability of parking.

For their part, SMCC just wants the new pier. Executive director of communications and development Carolyn Cianchette says that the old one will be gone by April — " if not by a contractor then via natural causes, " she laughs — and local contractors will donate their time and equipment to build the new one next winter, when their schedules lighten up. " Jeff’s on our pier committee, " she says, " and he does think it’s an option for an emergency evacuation site. We do see it as a community pier. " The college’s museum and student population would love to see ferry service, she thinks, but as an institution, SMCC hasn’t given a ferry much thought. But " we’re all about access, " she adds, " and if that gets more people on our campus, then great. "

She’s more skeptical about the potential for a commuter parking garage. " It’s a cool thought, " but " I don’t think it’s ever occurred to anybody, " at least in part because SMCC’s pier has been condemned for a number of years.

A day later, Cianchette calls back after talking to the SMCC higher-ups, and sounds a note of tempered optimism. The college’s stance, she says, is that " we’d love the idea, if a whole bunch of money fell out of the sky and we could build a parking garage. "

So all of the involved parties think a Portland-South Portland ferry is worth pursuing. What are we waiting for?

Alex Irvine can be reached at airvine@phx.com