STRATEGIC VISITOR & FERRY MANAGEMENT PLAN: Boston Harbor Islands National Park Area By BRADLEY MARSHALL MORIARTY B.S. Structural Engineering (1997) Northeastern University M.Ed Physics Education (1995) Boston University B.A. Psychology (1991) Georgetown University Submitted to the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Civil and Environmental Engineering At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology February 1999 © 1999 Massachusetts Institute of Technology All Rights Reserved Signature of Author... Bradley M riarty De artment of Civil and Environmental 4 ngineering January 8, 1999 Certified by... John B. Miller Assistan es of C'il and nvironmental Engineering II Thesis Supervisor Accepted by... Andrew J. Whittle Chairman, Departmental Committee on Graduate Studies 2 STRATEGIC VISITOR & FERRY MANAGEMENT PLAN: Boston Harbor Islands National Park Area by BRADLEY MARSHALL MORIARTY Submitted to the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering On January 15th in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Civil and Environmental Engineering ABSTRACT This document summarizes the creation and use of a spreadsheet model designed to estimate the visitor capacity, revenue and expense streams, federal matching funds and distribution of revenue by provider of the Boston Harbor Islands National Park Area (BOHA). The model was created under the auspices of the Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport) and the National Park Service (NPS). George Price of the NPS, and Kathy Abbott of the Island Alliance, along with Andrew Hargens of Massport helped define the scope of the model. The BOHA Partnership, made up of thirteen members from various federal, state and local agencies, estimated that the target number of visitors should be around 500,000. The capacity section of the model shows that the capacity of BOHA depends mostly on the capacity and frequency of the ferry system rather than the inherent ability of any island to support a certain number of visitors. In fact, the capacity of the park using the existing ferry system is nearly 700,000 visitors per season. This assumes that many people would want to visit the park. The model and its illumination of the importance of ferry service led the author to propose one possible future for the park based on a high usage concept. Using an electronic ticketing system to keep track of island usage and ferry performance, the partnership would aim for over 1,000,000 visitors per season, concentrated mostly on two islands, Spectacle and Peddock's. The ferry system would be contracted out to two or more providers who would receive compensation based on the number of passengers who chose to use their electronic tickets for that particular provider. In this way the ticket price could be fixed (and perhaps discounted for particular users) and the providers would compete for business based on customer service. The importance of the electronic ticketing system to the field of park planning hinges on the historically poor data for urban parks in the literature, the data potentially gathered would drastically change the information landscape for parks of its kind in the United States. It would also allow the partnership to protect the natural resources by gauging the use of the system more accurately. Thesis Supervisor: John B. Miller Title: Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT...............................................................................-----.. ---... -----------...................------.- 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS............................................................................................ .... 4 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY..............................................................................8 OVERALL GOALS DURING GROWTH:..........................................................8 8 THE CONTRADICTION: ...................................-....--........................................................................ 8 THE SOLUTION:........................................................-----................................................................8 IMPLEMENTATION: ......................................................................................................................... 8 1.0 A REVIEW OF THE FIELD........................................................................................ ..... 9 1.1 USE VS. PRESERVATION.............................................................. 10 1.2 PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS ............................................................ .............. ...... 11 1.3 "RECREATION" AREAS VS. "PARK" AREAS............................................. 12 4 2.0 INTRODUCTION TO THE MODEL.................................................................................... 13 2.1 WHY THE NEED FOR A VISITOR MANAGEMENT PLAN ............................................................ 15 2.2 G EO LO GY ..........................................................................-.-.-.-.... - . -----.---.---.... 15 2 .3 HISTO RY .................................................................................---------------. ------------ . 17 2.4 CURRENT LEVEL OF VISITORSHIP VS. GOAL LEVEL (AND GROWTH BEYOND) .......................... 19 2.5 UNIQUE M ANAGEMENT STRUCTURE....................................................................................... 21 2.6 INFRASTRUCTURE, DEVELOPMENT AND VISITOR MANAGEMENT ........................................... 22 2.7 SUM M ARY ...........................................................................--.... - -.. - - -- -- - -- --.........................22 3.0 IMPORTANT ELEMENTS OF THE MANAGEMENT PLAN ....................................... 24 3.1 A TTRACTING V ISITORS .......................................................................... ..... .............. 25 3.2 VISITOR MOTIVATION....................................................................................... 27 3.2.1 IslandE xp erience .......................................................................................................... 28 3.2.2 Needfor a Theme........................................................................................................... 29 4.0 CURRENT SITUATION.................................................................................................. 30 4.1 MANAGEMENT ...................................................................... 31 4.2 ISLAN D S................................................................ ......... ------.. ---------------..-- - 34 4.3 FERRIES ...................................................... .. ................................................................ 35 5.0 RESEARCH THEORY.............................................................................................---..-.----- 37 5.1 COST ESTIMATION .................................................................. 42 5.1.1 Th eory ........................................................................................................................... 42 5.2 SUMMARY...............--.-.-----------------.----------.----......................................................................... 42 6.0 BOSTON HARBOR ISLANDS MODEL............................................................................... 44 6.1 ASSUMPTIONS ....................................................................... 45 6.1.1 Park Cap acity................................................................................................................ 46 6.1.2 Development D raws Visitors ....................................................................................... 48 6.1.3 Flow Control by Ferry ................................................................................................ 49 5 6.1.4 InstantaneousIsland Capacity Estimates...................................................................... 51 6.2 INSTRUCTIONS FOR USE ................................................................................. .. 51 6.2.1 Getting Started.............................................................................................................. 52 6.2.2 Useful Features............................................................................................................. 53 6.2.3 Important Points............................................................................................................ 53 6.2.4 How Does It Work ......................................................................................................... 53 6.2.5 Overall Organization.................................................................................................. 54 6.3 SUGGESTIONS FOR USE .................................................................. ...... ... 57 6.3.1 Other Islands.................................................................................................................. 57 6.3.2 Operationsand Maintenance ....................................................................................... 58 6.3.3 Infrastructure................................................................................................................ 58 6.4 FUND DISTRIBUTION.................................................................................. 59 6.4.1 Contributionby Partner.............................................................................................. 59 6.5 STRENGTHS AND W EAKNESSES OF M ODEL ..............................................................