Sunset-Ridge Waterfront Alliance

[Source: Brooklyn Daily Eagle]

Water Taxi Service Welcomed By BP Markowitz, Sen. Golden

By Tom Kane

SUNSET PARK — Well, finally. Bay Ridge and Sunset Park riders now have ferry service to Pier 11 in Downtown Manhattan near Wall Street … Again.

It started on a rainy Monday morning, a little late, but when Delia Vitale saw the boat heading towards us in the rain, she exclaimed, “Here it is!”

Vitale, who lives in Sea Gate and for the last three months has driven into Manhattan paying over $200 a week to park, was thrilled with the new service.

“They stopped in February, telling us that because of maintenance and inspections the boat would be out of the water indefinitely. I’m glad they’re back,” she said.

[Source: Columbia Daily Spectator]

A maritime evacuation plan for Manhattan announced last month, in which a fleet of small boats will be used to ferry people across the Hudson River to New Jersey in the event of a serious blackout or terrorist attack, has been dubbed a Dunkirk-esque plan by bloggers and social commentators.

Gothamist, a well-known New York City blog, noted shortly after the Trans-Hudson Emergency Transportation Plan was announced in early January that the officials who designed this plan seem to have emulated aspects of the Dunkirk evacuation with their proposal to utilize “small craft to move millions of people in the event of an emergency.” Similar claims have also been made by other bloggers.

The reference alludes to the 1940 evacuation of Dunkirk, France during which hundreds of thousands of trapped allied soldiers were ferried to safety across the English Channel by a hastily assembled fleet of 860 small fishing vessels and privately owned pleasure boats, pressed into service for the operation.

The Trans-Hudson plan, which was drawn up jointly by the Office of Emergency Management in New York City and Office of Emergency Management in New Jersey, will rely on over 100 private water taxis and dinner-cruise vessels, along with the larger Staten Island ferries, in order to quickly evacuate millions of New York workers across the Hudson River to a staging area in New Jersey’s Liberty State Park. The plan forms part of New York’s general area evacuation plan and was drawn up in response to the 2003 blackout in which the subway system closed down and thousands were stranded throughout the city.

[Source: Queens Times Ledger]

A pilot program to bring ferry service from the Rockaways to Manhattan will launch in the summer, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn (D-Manhattan) said in her State of the City address last week.

The idea for Rockaways ferry service was born following a Council Transportation Committee hearing last year in Broad Channel, Quinn said, where the speaker, City Councilman Joseph Addabbo (D-Howard Beach) and Council Transportation Committee Chairman John Liu (D-Flushing) heard the community’s gripes about their two-hour commutes to Manhattan.

[…]

Under the city Economic Development Corporations request for bidders on the pilot program, those interested in providing ferry service would need to develop a plan that connects a point in the Rockaways to one in Lower Manhattan. The plans may include other stops on the peninsula or the Brooklyn waterfront.

[Source: Queens Gazette]

[…] She also announced an agreement with Mayor Michael Bloomberg to create a five-borough, year-round, comprehensive New York City ferry system.

Quinn said, “Imagine getting on a ferry in Hunts Point (The Bronx) for a day trip to Coney Island, or traveling from Brooklyn to Queens without waiting for the G train.” The Speaker said the plan would be one of the most significant transit initiatives in recent New York City history.

[Source: New York Post]

Making Quinn’s Vision Work

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn this week proposed a visionary plan to develop commuter-ferry service linking the boroughs of New York City, offering a new transit alternative for emerging waterfront communities, especially in Brooklyn and Queens.

Her vision can and must work - it means commutes of less than 10 minutes from the Brooklyn or Queens waterfront to the city’s Pier 11 ferry terminal at the foot of Wall Street.

But the plan needs some tweaking.

I’ve shared Quinn’s vision since I started NY Waterway 21 years ago. Our Hudson River commuter ferries carry 32,000 people on 21 routes linking New York and New Jersey.

But I’ve also seen East River service fail. To duplicate the Hudson River success, Quinn and other city leaders must study the New Jersey model.

First, you need customers to ride the ferries. East River service has failed because there haven’t been passengers to pay the cost of ferry service and because service has been too limited.

Part of providing that base is coordinating bus service to bring people to the ferry landing - which helps to build a customer base for the ferry and adds value to neighborhoods further from the water.

[Source: Brooklyn Daily Eagle]

Increase in Real Estate Development Leads to More Demand for Ferries

NEW YORK — In her State of the City Address yesterday, City Council President Christine Quinn called for cleaner and more accessible mass transit for NYC residents and visitors.

“With some neighborhoods more than three quarters of a mile from a subway station we need to examine other modes of transportation. It’s only natural to look at our natural highways…our water ways…to move New Yorkers efficiently and sustainably.” “ … this is an idea that came straight from listening to New Yorkers … ” “In the near future we’ll outline our strategy for developing what will be one of the most significant transit initiatives in recent New York City history.”

[Source: The Brooklyn Paper]

By Joe Jordan
for The Brooklyn Paper

Regular passengers on the Sunset Park to Lower Manhattan ferry slammed New York Water Taxi for hastily announcing that it will suspend winter service on Jan. 31.

“I’m devastated — this is my way of travel,” said Mary Ann Lento, who has taken the ferry to her Manhattan job every day for nearly 20 years.

She said she doesn’t mind paying $54 for her weekly 10-trip ticket.

“I’m not a young person. This is a stress-free way of travel. You know it’s going to be there and it just works.”

[Source: Brooklyn Daily Eagle]

BROOKLYN — The date when New York Water Taxi will suspend its commuter service from the Brooklyn Army Terminal at 58th Street in Sunset Park to Lower Manhattan’s Pier 11 — Feb. 1 — is approaching fast, and experts agree that something must be done to increase New Yorkers’ ferry ridership.

The Water Taxi company announced the suspension of the service — which will likely be reinstated in May, according to a company spokeswoman — earlier this month. This came on the heels of New York Water Taxi’s suspension of its East River route starting from Fulton Ferry Landing.

[Source: The Brooklyn Paper]

Just one month after the shutdown of winter service between north Brooklyn and Manhattan, New York Water Taxi said it will suspend winter service from the 58th Street Pier in Sunset Park’s Brooklyn Army Terminal.

The company cited rising fuel costs, stagnant ridership, and insufficient public funding.