Who Needs Bridges?

. Harbor cities like San Francisco and New York once boasted intricate networks of ferries carrying thousands of passengers each day. Then came the Golden Gate Bridge and the Holland Tunnel and dozens of other highway links. By the mid-1950s, urban ferries were a vanishing species, victims of America's love affair with the automobile. But these days, with once gleaming bridges and tunnels clogged with traffic or closed for repair, ferries are making a comeback.

Last week New York City officials launched an emergency ferry service to shuttle commuters between Brooklyn and Manhattan after the deteriorating 85- year-old Williamsburg Bridge was declared unsafe for automobile and subway traffic. Already boats from eleven private companies are plying the city's waterways, ferrying passengers from Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island and New Jersey to Wall Street and midtown Manhattan.

In San Francisco, ferries once again churn across the bay, shuttling cars and passengers to Marin and Solano counties. Last year Seattle-area ferries carried 18 million riders, more than the number of people who passed through the Seattle-Tacoma airport. "People who live around Puget Sound love their ferries," says Therese Ogle of Washington State Ferries. "They just scoff at bridges."

They are not alone. In Boston bridges and tunnels linking downtown to Logan Airport are routinely jammed. But the Airport Water Shuttle speeds riders from the waterfront district to Logan in seven minutes. A second service brings in commuters from the suburbs south of the city.

Whereas ferries were once dismissed by many as too expensive, rising tolls and parking costs have made them a bargain. Converts savor the other benefits: comfortable vessels, snack bars and reclining seats, fresh air and a relaxed atmosphere.

Despite the resurgence, few ferry services manage to make a profit. Golden Gate Bridge District, the largest ferry operator on San Francisco Bay, lost $2.8 million last year. New York's subsidized Staten Island Ferry, by far the nation's busiest, costs just 25 cents for a round trip (vs. $1 for a subway or bus ride) and sails along with a $26 million annual deficit. Nevertheless, several prospective services are being proposed by entrepreneurs. In San Diego two firms have proposed water-taxi services to shuttle conventioneers and tourists between the city's new waterfront convention center and hotels and restaurants around the bay. In Detroit investors hope to re-establish international ferry service across the Detroit River to Windsor, Ontario. To such visionaries, the possibilities of doing business on water seem limitless. John Westlake, chairman of Direct Line, one of New York's privately owned ferry lines, sums up the potential in terms that appeal to everyone who has suffered through gridlock: "The harbor is like an 80-lane highway that doesn't have anybody on it."