It’s not exactly a fleet, but the Bay Shore Ferry’s slowly expanding collection of boats is making waves in some parts of the island – and in more ways than one.
The first company to offer competition to the monopoly that is Fire Island Ferries, Bay Shore Ferry is owned and operated by Ned Hurley. The ferry company currently runs two boats, one owned and the other on lease, and has stops in Ocean Bay Park and Robbins Rest, with plans to increase service as soon as next season.
“We’re expanding and we’ll have more boats and more stops on Fire Island,” said Hurley. “The Bay Shore Ferry is growing, it’s not shrinking.”
Bay Shore Ferry introduced its latest boat, a 100-passenger ferry leased from New York Waterways, four weeks ago. The Gurian can clock up to 40 mph on the bay – fifty percent faster than Fire Island Ferries, said Hurley. A trip to Ocean Bay Park takes about 12 minutes, he said, and a trip back to Bay Shore from Robbins Rest takes about 11. A round-trip ticket on the Bay Shore Ferry is $11, a dollar and a half less than on Fire Island Ferries.
What concerns the competition, however, is not so much the presence of another ferry service, but the way Bay Shore Ferry has been conducting business with its customers, said Fire Island Ferries president George Hafele. “There is so much confusion that’s being generated by the way they are selling their ferry tickets,” he said.
According to Hurley, who is also owner of the Maple Avenue Marina, anyone can park in his Maple Avenue lot Mondays through Fridays and on Sundays. On Saturdays, however, when traffic is heavy and demand for parking high, the lot is reserved for Bay Shore Ferry passengers. At least one Bay Shore Ferry ticket must be bought along with the ticket for the parking space, said Hurley.
In search for a place to park their car, many island trippers are driving to the Maple Avenue Marina and purchasing tickets to park there, which on Saturdays include the $6 price of a one-way trip on the Bay Shore Ferry. They’re then walking across the street to Fire Island Ferries, expecting that their ferry tickets will be accepted there.
Hafele said it’s all too often that people have to be told by his employees that the ferry ticket, or tickets, they bought from across the street cannot be used on Fire Island Ferries. He cited as an example a family of four who recently purchased round-trip tickets from Bay Shore Ferry, only to be told that they couldn’t use them on the ferry to Ocean Beach. The family had to buy another set of tickets and was – to say the least, said Hafele – extremely angry about the situation.
“It generates bad will among the customers,” he said “It’s just not good for either one of the businesses.”
Hurley insists that people using his lot on Saturdays are told, and more than once, that the price of parking includes one ferry ticket usable only on the Bay Shore Ferry line.
“I may be a businessman, but I’m not a bad businessman,” he said.
Of the total number of Maple Avenue parking spaces between his lot and Fire Island Ferries lots, Hurley claims to own 30 percent of them. “Why shouldn’t I have 30 percent of the ferry boats then?” he asked.
Additionally, Hurley said that prior to the Bay Shore Ferry making stops in Ocean Bay Park, Fire Island Ferries had fewer boats going back and forth from Bay Shore to OBP. They now send 21 boats there on Saturdays, three fewer boats than go to Ocean Beach, OBP’s larger and more commercially populated neighbor.
“It seems a little absurd to me,” said Hurley. “They’re trying to stop me from competing.”
Hafele admits to increasing service to OBP, “mostly because it’s warranted,” he said. The service increase has been happening over the last four or five years, which predates the beginning of Bay Shore Ferry, he added.
Hafele was also quick to point out what he considers a main difference between the two ferry services.
“We’re dealing with two distinctively different markets,” he said. “We’re providing service to communities. They’re providing service to bars.”
If Hurley has his way, however, he’ll be servicing more parts of Fire Island – not just the ones with popular bar scenes. “We’re already in active negotiations in trying to find out where we’re going next year, in addition to where we’re stopping now,” he said. “We bite off what we can chew until we figure out what works. Then we’ll bite off some more.”
While their schedule is expanding, Bay Shore Ferry currently sends nine boats to Ocean Bay Park on Saturdays. Of those nine, five stop at Robbins Rest along the way.
The company has been servicing Robbins Rest for two years and Ocean Bay Park for one. This is the first season Hurley has brought in the larger ferry, which has double the holding capacity of his other ferry, the Resolute.
Expanding his service to other parts of Fire Island would include a lengthy application process, including approval from the Suffolk County legislature.
Coincidentally, Hafele is in the beginning stages of his campaign for Suffolk County legislator, 11th legislative district, a seat currently held by Angie Carpenter. Election for the position, which covers all of Fire Island, is in November 2005.
“I’ll be retiring from Fire Island Ferries if I get the seat,” said Hafele, deflecting any suggestion of conflict of interest. “Any conflict that comes up in front of the legislature, I would definitely recuse myself.”