Sunset-Ridge Waterfront Alliance

[Source: Brooklyn Daily Eagle]

Supporters Hope to Restore Service, Say ‘Ferries Are the Wave of the Future’

By Harold Egeln
Brooklyn Daily Eagle

SUNSET PARK — Wave goodbye for awhile to the ferry service between the Brooklyn Army Terminal in Sunset Park and Wall Street. And say hello to more cars congesting the roads and more riders on cramped subways and express buses.

That’s what faced water taxi commuters on Friday, the first ferry-less day of N.Y. Water Taxi-TFWM Ferry’s service from the 58th Street Public Pier. The service, the owners said regretfully, can no longer be funded.

As the sun set on Thursday over New York Harbor, the last commuter ferry service in Southwest Brooklyn came to a halt, ferry operators said — until further notice, or maybe at least until later this spring. Commuters of what they called “the ferry family” lamented the loss, as ferry travel advocates and owners expressed both outrage for now and hope for the future at a morning rally and on the last Manhattan-Brooklyn run.

Brooklyn — Leading up to today’s vote on Mayor Bloomberg’s congestion pricing plan, one City official has some harsh words for the Traffic Congestion Mitigation Commission. Council Member Vincent J. Gentile (D-Brooklyn), along with elected officials, community board members and water taxi riders rallied today at the Brooklyn Army Terminal to denounce the City’s continued failure to prioritizing ferry service as a major transportation option throughout the city.

On Thursday, January 31, 2008, Council Member Vincent J. Gentile (D-Brooklyn), along with community members, elected officials and water taxi riders, will rally at the Brooklyn Army Terminal to denounce the City’s continued silence on prioritizing ferry service as a major transportation option throughout the city.

Given the latest developments, the Councilman has renewed his appeal to the city to expand subsidies to private operators, stating that rising fuel costs, inadequate infrastructure, and inaccessibility have contributed to the demise of the Sunset Park ferry service.

[Source: Brooklyn Resident LoriAnn Decio, 1/30/08]

As a loyal rider of the NY Water Taxi ferry from the Brooklyn Army Terminal to Wall Street, I am extremely upset and disappointed with the decision to suspend this invaluable service. The ferry is a vital alternative / addition to our mass transit system, not only helping to alleviate traffic congestion on our highways but also providing a fast, relaxing and safe commute to and from work.

What are the city’s contingency plans to evacuate the city in the event of the next terrorist attack, blackout, transit strike or natural disaster? The ferries provided the only means in and out of the city (besides walking over the bridge) when these emergencies occurred over the past few years and should be considered an excellent source of contingency.

NY should be thinking of expanding commuting options — not limiting them.

[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: NY Water Taxi]

New York Water Taxi (NYWT), and our partner TWFM Ferry (TWFM), regretfully announces the suspension of commuter service from the Brooklyn Army Terminal to lower Manhattan effective February 1, 2008.

NYWT took over the service in 2003, on short notice, when it was abandoned by another operator. We have worked tirelessly to make the run economically viable, but the service continues to be an economic drain on the Company.

[…]

We will continue to work with the city agencies, elected officials such as Councilmember Gentile and the Sunset Ridge Ferry Coalition [sic.] in the hope that we will be able to restore the service by the spring. Proposals for public operating subsidies and new docks that could add riders to this commuter service would help tremendously and we will keep BAT riders informed about the possible resumption of the service via email.

[Source: Brooklyn Resident Mary Ann Lento, 1/23/08]

I protest the suspension of ferry service between Brooklyn Army Terminal and Pier 11 in Lower Manhattan.

Together we are a powerful constituent base, a powerful tax base and a loyal downtown workforce.

The riders of the Brooklyn Army Terminal Ferry are reaching out to our elected officials to help us in our crusade to save the ferry service to Lower Manhattan.

For the hundreds of Brooklyn and Queens Residents who take the ferry, we implore you to take up the cause of this important service impacts our ability to live, work and pay taxes in New York City.

[Source: Bay Ridge Rover]

Sunset Park’s ferry service from Brooklyn Army Terminal is in danger of being sunk due to dwindling ridership, according to this week’s Brooklyn Eagle.

As it would turn out however, the answer to Sunset Park’s troubled ferry program may very well be in Bay Ridge’s future transportation solution.

Heather McCowen, the Bay Ridge resident turned activist and founder of Sunset-Ridge Waterfront Alliance, who became a key figure in reviving the campaign to restore ferry service to Bay Ridge’s 69th street Pier virtually overnight, may, in the process, also be responsible for saving Sunset Park’s own endangered ferry - something that’s been a key piece of Community Board 7’s longterm waterfront revitalization plan from the get-go.

*** FERRY SERVICE HAS BEEN RESTORED TO SUNSET PARK! ***

Current Ferry Service in Sunset Park, Brooklyn:
There is currently weekday ferry service from Breezy Point to Brooklyn Army Terminal in Sunset Park in Brooklyn, to Pier 11 (Wall Street) in Manhattan. This service is funded by the first subsidy for passenger ferry service in Manhattan as of May, 2008. 
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