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New ferry service set to begin May 12

By Matthew Sweeney | msweeney@am-ny.com

May 5, 2008

A new ferry route linking Rockaway and Manhattan - with a stop on the Brooklyn waterfront - will begin May 12, according to city council members briefed on the plan.

The new ferry is the first step in a two-year pilot program to expand ferry service in the city, the mayor is expected to announce today. In between Rockaway and Pier 11 in Lower Manhattan, the ferry will pick up passengers at the Brooklyn Army Terminal's Pier 4 at 58th Street.

"It will be a one-hour ride from Southeast Queens to Manhattan," said Councilman John Liu, chair of the Transportation Committee. "This is most welcome. We are straining at transit capacity."

The fare will be "comparable" to the $5 cost of express bus ride, Liu said.

New York Water Taxi had plied the route until it stopped the service across the East River in January due to rising cost of fuel. Councilman Vincent Gentile (R-Brooklyn) and others had called for its return.

"There are several miles of waterway in New York City that he feels are being underutilized," said Kwame Patterson, a Gentile spokesman.

The mayor and the city Department of Transportation are expected to announce future expansion of ferry service along with Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who has called for ferry stops in all five boroughs. Among the locations to be considered for service is the 69th Street pier in Bay Ridge, which will be the subject of a feasibility study, Patterson said.

Several council members also have called for year-round ferry service in neighborhoods such as City Island and Soundview in the Bronx, Coney Island, Greenpoint and Williamsburg.

Politics watchers have described the mayor's support for expanded ferry service as a concession to the council for backing his congestion-pricing proposal.

"It's a good start but more needs to be done," said Councilman Eric Gioia (D-Queens). He said that the city should spend more to subsidize ferry service and integrate it into transit system through transfers.

It was not immediately clear how much the city was subsidizing the cost of operating the ferry.

A DOT spokesman declined to comment.