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Forget hour-long subway rides and congested highways. Beginning next week, commuters from the Rockaways, Howard Beach and other parts of southern Queens will have the option to hop on a ferry that takes them right to Wall Street for only $6.
The two-year pilot program, funded using $1.1 million allocated by City Councilman Joseph Addabbo Jr. (D-Howard Beach), will run from Riis Landing to Pier 11 in Lower Manhattan, with one stop along the way at the Brooklyn Army Terminal, starting Monday, May 12. Planners expect about 250 riders a day.
New York Water Taxi will operate the Rockaway service, which is the first phase of a plan developed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn to bring ferry service to all five boroughs. As part of this first phase, New York Water Taxi will also restore service to Long Island City in July.
“Ferries are fast, affordable and environmentally friendly,” Bloomberg said. “As our waterfront becomes even more dynamic ... ferries are going to become an even bigger part of our city’s transportation network.”
Assemblywoman Audrey Pheffer (D-Ozone Park) agreed, noting it is especially true now that gas prices are hitting record highs.
She and Addabbo, along with Congressman Anthony Weiner (D-Queens and Brooklyn), who obtained $15 million in federal funds in 2005 for a Rockaway ferry service, have been fighting for years to bring an affordable ferry service to the Rockaways.
It is a much-needed alternative to the “deplorable” A train, Addabbo said when the borough ferry plan was first announced in February. “The more south you go into Queens, the worse transportation gets.”
The best thing about the service, according to Pheffer, is that it will cut travel time in half — from 90 minutes to 45 — and get people to their destinations quickly and conveniently. A ferry service will also bring people out to Riis Park and the Rockaway beaches this summer, she said, noting that high gas costs will force families to cut down on summer travel.
Most attempts to bring a ferry to Rockaway were unsuccessful in the past due to limited schedules and high costs — as in 2003, when a pilot weekend ferry from Breezy Point to Manhattan failed because of the $26 round-trip fare. But Pheffer and others have faith that this ferry plan will prevail.
The council will work with the Department of Transportation, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the city’s Economic Development Corp. to connect ferry landings with bus service, providing commuters an important layer of convenience in their travel.
Soon after the city launches the Rockaway pilot, it is expected to connect the route with core service along the East River, which includes stops at Queens West, South Williamsburg in Brooklyn and Pier 11 and East 34th Street in Manhattan.
The second phase of the plan will expand the East River service, adding two stops in Brooklyn and constructing a new landing at Roosevelt Island that will be used by a private operator.
As these developments unfold, city agencies and a variety of external consultants
will begin conducting an in-depth study in each borough on potential sites capable of supporting new ferry service. These include Astoria and LaGuardia Airport in Queens; Bay Ridge and Sheepshead Bay in Brooklyn; Riverdale, Orchard Beach, Ferry Point and Hunts Point in the Bronx; and, in Manhattan, 125th Street and East 20th, 75th and 90th streets. Analysis is currently under way for service to Camp St. Edward on Staten Island.
That it only took three months from discussion to actualization for the five-borough ferry plan to come to fruition indicates the Bloomberg administration’s strong political will to create a revitalized waterfront and reduce traffic congestion and pollution in the city. But that will wasn’t always there; the $15 million in federal funds that Weiner obtained has gone unused since city officials initially said the Rockaway ferry service route was impractical.
Operating costs for the eventual five-borough ferry service could reach up to $100 million annually, according to Councilman John Liu (D-Flushing), who chairs the council’s Transportation Committee. But, when compared to other mass transit capacity expansions, “this is a very manageable investment for the long term.”
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