The Biden administration will issue $220 million in grants to modernize the country’s ferry systems, officials announced Thursday.
The grant program will focus on expanding ferry service in rural communities, helping them acquire modern ferries, including electric boats, and upgrading shore infrastructure to support low-emission ferry service, officials said.
Twelve ferry operators in the territory of American Somoa and the states of California, Washington, Alaska, Maine, Michigan, New Jersey, New York and North Carolina will receive grants, said Nuria Fernandez, administrator of the Federal Transit Administration.
The grants “will help transit agencies around the country buy and retrofit vessels, upgrade terminals and modernize equipment,” she said during a news conference at San Francisco’s Ferry Building.
Good news, but $220M spread around that many states seems like it won’t go far. Alaska’s ferries are antiquated and they’ve cut back their routes and service while raising prices to amounts that make it impractical to use unless there are no alternatives.