THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 3, 1995 TAG: 9502030573
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY BETTY MITCHELL GRAY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RALEIGH LENGTH: Medium: 64 lines
A state panel tabled a plan Thursday to boost tolls on three coastal ferries and create tolls on the four others that now are free.
But the idea of expanding tolls on the state's ferry system is not dead, a coastal legislator said.
After less than five minutes of discussion, a Board of Transportation subcommittee on ferries tabled a proposal to more than double the state's income from ferry tolls by charging patrons at all seven ferries that ply North Carolina's coast.
Board members said they expect the General Assembly to continue helping the ferry division cover higher costs caused by an increase in passengers.
Ridership in January was 36.9 percent higher than in the same month last year, Jerry Gaskill, ferry division director, told the panel.
``The word's spreading. There's no doubt about it,'' said subcommittee member Bob Mattocks.
Gaskill said, ``We're kind of between a rock and a hard place. We have an increase in traffic on our ferries but we can't charge folks who use most of them.''
The state Department of Transportation takes in $1.42 million a year through tolls at three of the seven ferries.
Gaskill said the toll plan would target visitors and tourists by offering reduced-rate annual passes for coastal residents.
New tolls would be taken on the Pamlico River and Cherry Branch ferries - $3 each - and the Hatteras Inlet and North River Landing ferries - $4 each. Existing tolls would rise significantly: $10 tolls would jump 50 percent to $15; and $3 tolls would rise 33 percent to $4, according to the plan presented to the subcommittee in January.
Opposition surfaced quickly.
R.V. Owens III, a board of transportation member and Dare County restaurateur, said the plan would unduly hurt traffic that crosses Hatteras Inlet to Ocracoke Island.
Sen. Beverly Perdue, D-Craven, opposes charging state residents to ride the ferries. She stated her position at a recent meeting in Craven County of state transportation officials, area legislators and economic development interests.
And in an interview on the Senate floor Thursday afternoon, Perdue said she was especially concerned about Department of Transportation estimates that local traffic would pay 75 percent of the tolls assessed on the Minnesott Beach-Cherry Branch ferry.
That ferry carries Pamlico County residents who work at the Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station and have no other convenient way to travel between home and base.
``They use that ferry to go to work,'' Perdue said. ``That's their bridge. I think that residents of the state pay already to ride the ferries through their gasoline taxes. I don't think any North Carolina residents should pay a fee.''
But Perdue said she would not oppose charging out-of-state visitors .
Legislators have asked the state attorney general's office whether the state could charge a toll to out-of-state residents only. A favorable opinion could revive the concept of expanded ferry tolls, Perdue said.
The ferry system carried 2.1 million people and 862,753 cars and trucks last year, according to the state. by CNB