THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, February 2, 1995 TAG: 9502020394
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY BETTY MITCHELL GRAY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RALEIGH LENGTH: Medium: 91 lines
A state transportation panel may review a new toll schedule today for seven coastal ferries that could raise more than $3 million a year, primarily from tourists.
The plan is opposed by the Outer Banks representative on the N.C. Board of Transportation and by some coastal tourism interests. They contend it would unduly hurt traffic that crosses Hatteras Inlet to Ocracoke Island.
The proposal calls for a $4 fee per car each way on the ferry between Hatteras and Ocracoke, with similar charges on the ferry between Knotts Island and Currituck. Annual passes would drop the cost for residents using the ferries, which now are free to everyone. Ocracoke residents would be given special passes.
Jerry Gaskill, the director of the state ferry division, presented a plan to the transportation board in January that would more than double the income from ferry tolls by charging patrons at all seven ferries that ply coastal North Carolina waters.
A board subcommittee could take up that discussion today.
``We're trying to improve our service to the public,'' Gaskill said Wednesday. ``And as we have tried to improve that service, it costs our agency.''
Gaskill said the plan would focus on visitors and tourists by offering reduced-rate annual passes for coastal residents.
``In the proposed fee schedule, we tried to make sure local residents, local commuters and commercial traffic were taken care of,'' he said.
R.V. Owens III, a Dare County resident and restaurateur who represents the region on the Board of Transportation and chairs the subcommittee that will consider the request, said he will oppose the plan unless the board revises it to allow revenues from the tolls to be spent where they are collected.
Currently, the state Department of Transportation raises $1.42 million a year through tolls at three of the state's seven ferries:
Swan Quarter to Ocracoke Island - $10 a vehicle each way for private cars;
Cedar Island to Ocracoke Island - $10 a vehicle each way for private cars;
Southport to Fort Fisher - $3 a vehicle each way for private cars.
The proposed increases, presented to the subcommittee in January, would raise the $10 tolls to $15, a 50 percent increase, and the $3 tolls to $4, a 33 percent increase.
In addition, tolls would be charged as follows at the four other ferry sites:
Pamlico River ferry from Bayview to Aurora - $3 each way for private cars;
Neuse River ferry from Minnesott Beach to Cherry Branch - $3 each way for private cars;
North Landing River ferry from Currituck to Knotts Island - $4 each way for private cars;
Hatteras Inlet ferry from Hatteras to Ocracoke Island - $4 each way for private cars.
Owens said, however, that a disproportionate share of the revenue - about 40 percent - would come from Hatteras Inlet ferry tolls.
``There are 300,000 cars and trucks a year that cross Hatteras Inlet, and they are the ones who are going to be the sacrificial lambs of the deal,'' Owens told the Associated Press.
Gaskill said that most local residents would save money over what they currently pay to use the three toll ferries because an annual pass would allow them unrestricted use of all ferries for $64. An annual pass for unlimited use of any one ferry would cost $32 for residents.
Special arrangements have been made in the fee schedule to help Ocracoke Island residents, who depend on the state's ferries for links with the mainland. Those residents could buy an annual pass for $32 that could be used on any of the ferries linking the island - a savings of $88 in annual fees over the estimated $120 the islanders now pay in ferry tolls each year, Gaskill said.
The annual passes for commercial and large vehicles would be $150 and $200, depending on the size of the truck.
``Right now the people of North Carolina are taxed to support these ferries whether they use them or not,'' Gaskill said. ``This plan would make it a user-fee system and most of the cost would be paid by people who don't live in North Carolina.''
The proposed fees are the result of a 15-month study of tolls charged by North Carolina and other states nationwide for their ferry systems. The study showed that tolls from North Carolina's ferries account for a lower percentage of the system's budget than any other state, Gaskill said.
The ferry system carried 2.1 million passengers and 862,753 cars and trucks last year, according to state ferry statistics.
According to Gaskill, visitors would account for 80 percent of tolls from Hatteras, Southport, Cedar Island and Swan Quarter ferries and half the tolls from Currituck and Pamlico River ferries.
Only at Cherry Branch would local traffic carry the burden - 75 percent of the tolls assessed - Gaskill said. by CNB