Photo Courtesy of Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office
The NYC Ferry will serve all five boroughs by 2020, according to Mayor de Blasio.
By Forum Staff
The popular NYC Ferry system is expanding to serve all five boroughs by next year, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Monday.
According to the City Economic Development Corporation, the expansion includes the addition of two new routes that will run from Staten Island and Coney Island, plus the modification of two existing routes to include new stops in the Bronx and Brooklyn. A new ferry stop in the Throggs Neck/Ferry Point Park section of the Bronx will join the Soundview route, and a stop at the Brooklyn Navy Yard will be added to the Astoria Route.
The EDC commenced the 2018 Feasibility Study to determine whether the system could expand to serve more waterfront communities throughout the five boroughs. The analysis included feedback from New Yorkers, elected officials, and community boards.
The NYC Ferry expansion includes:
• Modification of the Astoria Route in 2019 to include the Brooklyn Navy Yard: This May, a stop will be added at the Brooklyn Navy Yard on the Astoria Route. The Navy Yard, which currently serves as NYC Ferry’s homeport, is undergoing a historic expansion of the campus and is expected to more than double its workforce by 2020, EDC officials noted. Starting this May, the Astoria Route will take ~45 minutes from start to finish, according to the administration.
• Launch of the St. George Route in 2020: The new route will run from St. George to Battery Park City/Vesey St., ending at Midtown West (W. 39th Street /Pier 79). Anticipated total run time is ~35 minutes.
• Launch of the Coney Island Route in 2021: The Coney Island route will launch in 2021, with a stop in Bay Ridge, before ending at Wall St. /Pier 11, an anticipated total run time of ~35 minutes from start to finish. The route is estimated to serve approximately four thousand NYCHA residents that live within a half-mile radius of the landing.
• Extension of the Soundview Route in 2021: A new landing in Throggs Neck/Ferry Point Park will be added to the Soundview route. Launched in August 2018, the Soundview route connects residents and workers in the East Bronx with stops on Manhattan’s Upper East Side (E. 90th Street), Midtown East/E. 34th Street and Wall Street/Pier 11. Riders boarding at the new Throggs Neck/Ferry Point Park ferry stop are able to transfer for free to the East River, Rockaway, Astoria, and South Brooklyn routes at East 34th Street and Wall Street /Pier 11. The extended route will take approximately ~51 minutes from start to finish.
• Modification of the South Brooklyn Route in 2021: The South Brooklyn Route will be reconfigured to start from Sunset Park/Brooklyn Army Terminal instead of Bay Ridge, which will be added to the new Coney Island Route and will no longer stop at DUMBO/BBP1. Alternatively, DUMBO/BBP1 will only be accessible via the East River Route. Starting in 2021, the new estimated run time will be ~34 minutes from start to finish.
“In less than two years, NYC Ferry has become one of the most reliable, affordable, and beloved transit systems in the city,” said NYCEDC President and CEO James Patchett.
