Hi Michael, its been a while.  What Rodney says is mostly true, and to the extent that the ferry system costs disproportionally relative to the number of those it benefits, you are correct the ferry is a subsidy.  Not unlike "lifetime welfare" (which by the way is mostly paid for by the feds). If we all get the subsidies we want, we will all end up in the poor house, as subsidies waste resources through poor allocation.  

The fact the oil revenue comes from oil extracted from rural areas does not give rural areas disproportionate claim to that wealth.  Living close to a source of wealth production gives no claim on that wealth.  Owning the raw materials gives claim to the wealth, as does being a producer of the wealth, but being nearby does not.