NB Ferry Service Is Like Most Things Here: Elsewhere [OPINION]

Like so many on the list of "What's missing in New Bedford," the ferry service to the Cape and islands ignores an otherwise perfect opportunity.

The Cape Cod traffic is almost intolerable throughout the summer. Why would the Commonwealth not steer a new Massachusetts Steamship Authority service right out of New Bedford, to and from Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, and even Hyannis?

The city could use the tourists, the parking revenues and the state, and the commuters would certainly appreciate 2,000 fewer vehicles going over the two overburdened bridges every week between Memorial Day and Labor Day.

The Fast Ferry out of State Pier is great but cannot handle the bulk that the larger ferries can–and should.

I wish our representatives down here would stop worrying less about my cell phone call and start thinking about a long-ignored, no-brainer service from which everyone could benefit.

Woods Hole sucks to hang out at, and being on stand-by there is the pits. Sitting in 3-4 hours of traffic from Marion, Middleboro or Marshfield, all the way to Woods Hole sucks, too. Year after year, the MSA is overwhelmed with the bulk of demand for vehicle space on the ferries and often sells out before the last snow has fallen.

Hundreds of thousands of people coming from Canada, Maine, New Hampshire and Boston from the north or New Yorkers and Connecticut vacationers and others from the west would love to hear about a much shorter trip to get on a ferry to their vacations.

New Bedford has everything imaginable to do this right and to do this bigly. What they don't have is the brainpower to facilitate this potential.

This isn't on City officials. This is something the state needs to do.

Supply and demand! Jobs, jobs, jobs. Hotels, restaurants, gas stations, Uber, Lyft, food vendors resupplying the ships, street musicians, tourism booths all could be in full effect on the New Bedford waterfront by pushing Beacon Hill to agree. But the problem is, no one is pushing!

Antonio Cabral has been busy with other matters–such as shoving the New Bedford Public Schools to the ground from behind and then brushing them off and asking, "who could've done this?"

Cabral, Bill Strauss, and Chris Hendricks obviously prefer to invest your dime and their time to expand abortion rights to the baby's due date, and for any reason, than to concentrate their efforts on helping their struggling city create an exciting amount of jobs with obvious ideas such as this.

The additional 500-1,500 hypothetical patrons to New Bedford's restaurants and shops every day could be the make-or-break revenue to keep the doors open.

We are blessed with unimaginative and misguided representation, aren't we? Oh, New Bedford, you were so wise to hitch your wagons to these do-nothings.

Hey, if they don't want to do their jobs, they should step aside and allow citizens with real passion, vision and work ethic to improve things.

Ken Pittman is the host of The Ken Pittman Show on 1420 WBSM New Bedford. He can be heard Saturdays from 9 a.m. to noon. Contact him at ken.pittman@townsquaremedia.com. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.