By Helen Klein
May 8, 2008
[Source: CourierLife Publications]
Ferry service is coming back to the Brooklyn Army Terminal.The service will be restored May 12th, as a stop on the new Rockaways to Manhattan route that the city is subsidizing as part of its five-borough ferry initiative announced earlier this year.Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine […]
A subsidized ferry route between southern Queens and Lower Manhattan, via Brooklyn, will begin next week to give commuters another option, the mayor and the City Council announced on Monday.
The two-year pilot Rockaway Service, which will be run by New York Water Taxi, will be financed using $1.1 million allocated by the City Council.
The new route, which begins on May 12, will run from Riis Landing in Breezy Point, Queens, to the Brooklyn Army Terminal to Pier 11 at Wall Street. It will run twice a day in each direction: 5:45 a.m. and 7:45 a.m. from Breezy Point, and 4:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. from Lower Manhattan. The trip will take about one hour each way. The cost will be $6 per trip.
Separately, New York Water Taxi will restart East River ferry service next month from Pier 11 and 34th Street to Long Island City, Queens, which it suspended in January because of lack of passengers and rising fuel costs. Service to South Williamsburg, Brooklyn, will be restored when a new $1.25 million city-financed launch center being built at Schaefer Landing is completed, Water Taxi officials said in a statement.
[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.
[Press Release: NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg]
City and Council-funded programs to be joined with federal funding and allocations from Congress-members Nadler and Maloney
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn joined other elected officials today to announce that key parts of the plan developed by the Bloomberg Administration and the Speaker to bring ferry service to all five boroughs will begin May 12, when a new City Council-subsidized route from Far Rockaway to Lower Manhattan starts service. The route, which will run from Riis Landing in Far Rockaway to the Brooklyn Army Terminal to Pier 11 on South Street will connect commuters in Brooklyn and Southern Queens with Lower Manhattan. Additional East River ferry service from Pier 11 and 34th Street to Long Island City and South Williamsburg will be re-launched by a private operator in July, and expanded East River ferry service is expected to begin in two years. The City will also be analyzing additional launch locations across the five boroughs as it looks to expand and encourage the use of this convenient, environmentally sustainable transit mode to places like West 125th Street, Riverdale, Coney Island and Camp St. Edward on Staten Island, among other locations. At the announcement at the Brooklyn Army Terminal, the Mayor and Speaker were joined by DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan, Economic Development Corporation President Seth Pinsky, United States Representatives Carolyn Maloney and Jerrold Nadler, and New York City Council Member Sarah Gonzalez.
“Ferries are fast, affordable, and environmentally-friendly. As our waterfront becomes even more dynamic - with new housing and open space in communities like Greenpoint, Williamsburg, and Hunters Point - ferries are going to become an even bigger part of our city’s transportation network,” said Mayor Bloomberg. “That vision of a revitalized waterfront is an important element of PlaNYC, and over the past year we’ve worked closely with Speaker Quinn and the Council to make it a reality.”
[Source: Gotham Gazette]
City Council Speaker Christine Quinn endorsed the creation of a citywide ferry service and an expansion of a small business insurance program in her State of the City address last week. Now advocates and stakeholders are weighing in, and - for the most part - appear to be praising the proposals.
Last week, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn announced her support for a five-borough, year-round ferry system that Mayor Bloomberg and the city Department of Transportation are developing. Such a proposal may seem like a pipe dream to many New Yorkers, who have seen ferry service remain fairly stagnant, either from a shortage of funding or an apparent lack of demand.
[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.
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.
The Sunset-Ridge Waterfront Alliance (SRWA) is a grass roots, community-driven, organization that is dedicated to bringing ferry service to Sunset Park, Bay Ridge, and beyond.
What began in July 2007 as a petition drive to reinstate ferry service at the 69th St. Veteran’s Memorial Pier in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, has now grown to a non-profit organization that is fighting to keep ferry service at the 58th St. Pier in Sunset Park.
With over 1,500 signatures to date, and a growing number of committed citizens and activists interested in re-invigorating our waterfront areas in Brooklyn, SRWA is urging our elected officials to do their part in the fight for our much needed waterborne transportation via ferries.
With the East River Water Taxi service suspended until May 2008, and now the suspension of the ferry service to 58th St. Pier, it is clear that the ferry operators are badly in need of the city subsidies that all other forms of transportation are readily given. The ridership is there, but we need subsidies to help keep the fares affordable to ALL citizens.
[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: Times Ledger]
Although politicians may not always be able to walk on water, two city councilmen are trying to increase funding so you can commute on it.
Councilman Eric Gioia (D-Sunnyside) and Councilman David Yassky (D-Brooklyn) called on the city to increase funding for and awareness of the New York City Water Taxi service that runs between Manhattan and Brooklyn and Queens at a news conference Saturday in Williamsburg.
[…]
The Sunset Ridge Waterfront Alliance, a Brooklyn-based advocate group, praised Gioia and Yassky for taking the initiative. The group said government subsidies would not only lower the $5 one-way fare for the water taxis, it would save the city millions in eased congestion.
“The taxis are greener for the city, because they get people off the roads and on the water. This initiative has bipartisan support,” said Heather McGown, the founder of the alliance.
