By David Vitrano

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – The Reserve-Edgard ferry made its return to service last week to the delight of those who no longer have to make the drive to either the Veterans Memorial Bridge in St. James Parish or the Hale Boggs Bridge in St. Charles Parish to cross the Mississippi River.

For those people, the ferry’s return means a reduction in gas costs and time lost. Still some grumble that bringing the ferry back was not worth the time, effort and money required.

With this in mind, last week L’Observateur asked visitors to its website what they thought about the return of the ferry.

While the results of the poll were very mixed, nearly half of respondents thought the return of the ferry was a good thing. On the other hand, over 40 percent of respondents thought bringing the ferry back was a waste of taxpayer money.

Of those who like the ferry’s return, nearly half said they probably will not ride it very often while the rest were evenly divided between those who said they will use the ferry daily and those who will use it occasionally.

Fewer than 10 percent of respondents had no opinion on the ferry’s return.

A full breakdown of results follows:

• 13 percent of respondents chose, “I think it’s fantastic, and I plan to use it daily or almost daily.”

• 13 percent of respondents chose, “I like it, and I plan to use it occasionally.”

• 22 percent of respondents chose, “I like having the option there even though I will probably not ride it all that often.”

• 9 percent of respondents chose, “I don’t really care about it one way or the other.”

• 43 percent of respondents chose, “I think it’s a complete waste of money.”