I strongly differ with much of what Mr. Span advocates in this article ("Sensible Shoes", November).  First of all, the Staten Island ferries are not fast - any vessel, even operating at 15 knots, will be damaged if it doesn’t slow down when approaching a dock.  So will a car if the driver goes into his garage at 15 miles an hour.

While standardization is an important element of the WTA plan, large slow vessels are not.  While slower vessels use less fuel, larger vessels require more crew.  Fewer large vessels mean fewer trips, less convenient schedules, more crowded terminals, and more congested streets in the vicinity of terminals.  Slower monohull vessels also generate significantly greater wake than aluminium or fiberglass catamarans..  

Bay Area experience to date has shown that faster and more frequent trips increase patronage.  A single Vallejo vessel that made the trip in an hour and 10 minutes was not attractive - hourly 55-minute service has been very attractive to the point of turning away patrons at times.  Speed is not critical for shorter routes, but it is for routes over 10 miles.  For shorter routes, ferries need enough speed to operate a consistent "transit" schedule.  A service that operates every 30 minutes is much better than a service that operates every 40 minutes.