Sunset-Ridge Waterfront Alliance

East River Service will Shut Down for Winter Without Intervention

In a blow for Brooklyn and Queens waterfront residents, New York Water Taxi’s East River service will be suspended for the winter months due to insufficient revenue. Councilmembers David Yassky (D-Brooklyn) and Eric Gioia (D-Queens) are calling for the city to step in to provide ferry service as an alternate to other mass transit.

With the L and 7 trains over capacity, water taxi service is becoming an important transportation option for the rapidly growing waterfront neighborhoods of Brooklyn and Queens. Mayor Bloomberg has included increased ferry services as part of PlaNYC, but currently there are not enough commuters to sustain the ferries during the winter, when there is less tourism to subsidize the service.

However, without consistent uninterrupted service, ferries will never be a viable alternative to other forms of transportation. Gioia and Yassky are asking the city to preserve water taxi service and calling for the eventual integration of water taxi service with other mass transit, including a single card valid for subway, bus, and ferry.

Who:
Councilmembers David Yassky and Eric Gioia; Williamsburg, Greenpoint and Long Island City residents; Waterfront Activists

When:
Saturday, December 29, 2007
11:00am

Where:
New York Water Taxi Terminal at Schaefer Landing
Kent Avenue at South 10th Street (click for map)
Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Contact:
Jim Rogers
NY Water Taxi
917.328.8226

You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Stay on top of the news by subscribing to the SRWA RSS feed.