NYC Ferry
NYC Ferry is a public network of ferry routes in New York City operated by Hornblower Cruises., there are six routes, as well as one seasonal route, connecting 25 ferry piers across all five boroughs. NYC Ferry has the largest passenger fleet in the United States with a total of 38 vessels, providing between 20 and 90 minute service on each of the routes, depending on the season.
New York City had an extensive ferry network until the 1960s, when almost all ferry services were discontinued, but saw a revival in the 1980s and 1990s. During 2013 the city government officially proposed its own ferry service, which was announced two years later under the tentative name of Citywide Ferry Service. The first of two phases launched in 2017 with service along the East River and to the Rockaways, Bay Ridge, and Astoria. A second phase launched to the Lower East Side and Soundview in 2018. A ferry to St. George, Staten Island, and a stop in Throggs Neck/Ferry Point Park launched in 2021, while a proposed route to Coney Island has been postponed indefinitely as of 2022.
NYC Ferry sells both single-ride and multi-ride tickets. Free transfers are offered between routes, but there is no free transfer to other modes of transport in the city. NYC Ferry also provides free shuttle buses, connecting to ferry stops in the Rockaways and, until 2024, Midtown Manhattan. The ferry service was originally expected to transport 4.5 to 4.6 million passengers annually, but the annual ridership estimates were revised in early 2018 to 9 million. Despite its crowding, the ferry has generally received positive reviews from passengers. There has been commentary over the highly subsidized nature of the service, and NYC Ferry's low ridership compared to the city's other public transit modes.
Background
Early ferries
Until the 19th century, when the first fixed crossings were put in place across the city's waterways, there were many ferries traversing the area. New York's first ferries date to when the city was a Dutch colony named New Amsterdam, which comprised modern-day Lower Manhattan. A ferry across the East River, between New Amsterdam and modern-day Brooklyn, was created in 1642 by Cornelius Dircksen, who was reportedly "the earliest ferryman of whom the records speak." By 1654, New Amsterdam's government passed ordinances to regulate East River ferries. The first ferry to New Jersey was founded in 1661, traveling across the Hudson River from Manhattan to Communipaw. Ferries along the Harlem River, between uptown Manhattan and the Bronx, started in 1667, and a ferry to Staten Island was started in 1712. The number of ferries grew, and by 1904, there were 147 ferry services operating in New York City waters.One of the first documented horse-powered "team" boats in commercial service in the United States was the Fulton Ferry Company, an East River ferry run that Robert Fulton implemented in 1814. The South Ferry Company, founded in 1836, merged with the Fulton Ferry Company three years later, and the combined companies underwent a series of acquisitions, eventually owning many of the East River ferries. However, by 1918, the construction of bridges and New York City Subway tunnels across the East River resulted in some companies, such as the New York and East River Ferry Company between Yorkville and Astoria, operating at a loss. Even with city ownership, many of the East River ferries were superseded by bridges, road tunnels, and subway tunnels by the mid-20th century. The Yorkville–Astoria ferry, for instance, stopped in 1936 after being replaced by the Triborough Bridge.
On the other side of Manhattan, there were a myriad of Hudson River ferries at one point, with boat routes running from New Jersey to twenty passenger docks in Manhattan. However, the construction of the Holland Tunnel, Lincoln Tunnel, Hudson & Manhattan Railroad, Pennsylvania Railroad and George Washington Bridge between Manhattan and New Jersey, as well as the growth of car ownership in the United States, meant that these ferries were no longer needed by the mid-20th century. As a result, in 1967, the last cross-Hudson ferry ceased operations.
The Richmond Turnpike Company started a steamboat service from Manhattan to Staten Island in 1817. Cornelius Vanderbilt bought the company in 1838, and it was sold to the Staten Island Railroad Company in 1864. The Staten Island Ferry was then sold to the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in 1884, and the City of New York assumed control of the ferry in 1905. The ferry, which still operates, was at one point the only commuter ferry within the entire city, after the discontinuation of the Hoboken ferry in 1967.
Despite the discontinuation of ferry service to New Jersey, people moved to locations along the Hudson River waterfront there. In 1986, waterfront settlements like Bayonne, Highlands, Keyport, Port Liberte, and Weehawken saw a reinstatement of their ferry service to Manhattan, under the operation of NY Waterway. By 1989, around 3,000 of the settlements' combined 10,500 residents paid a $5.00 fare in each direction to board the NY Waterway ferries, despite competition from cheaper alternatives like the PATH train system. Around this time, there were plans to create ferry routes between Inwood and Atlantic City; South Amboy and Wall Street; and from the city proper to New Jersey, Connecticut, and Westchester.
Revival of ferries
In early 2011, the New York City Economic Development Corporation, and the NYC & Company water travel initiative NYHarborWay, worked with the New York City Department of Transportation to release a Comprehensive Citywide Ferry Study, in which it examined over 40 potential locations for a ferry system in New York City. The study was commissioned in order to examine transport alternatives for neighborhoods along New York City's shores. It also discussed the East River Ferry, which was set to enter service later that year. The study identified potential ferry routes to western Manhattan and Riverdale; eastern Manhattan, the South Bronx, and Co-op City; the northern Brooklyn and Queens shorelines; the South Shore of Staten Island; and southwestern Brooklyn, southern Brooklyn, and the Rockaways.East River and Rockaway ferries
In June 2011, the NY Waterway-operated East River Ferry line started operations. The route was a 7-stop East River service that ran from Pier 11 to East 34th Street, making four intermediate stops in Brooklyn and one in Queens. The ferry, an alternative to the New York City Subway, cost $4 per one-way ticket. It was instantly popular, with two to six times the number of passengers that the city predicted would ride the ferries. From June to November 2011, the ferry accommodated 2,862 riders on an average weekday, as opposed to a projection of 1,488 riders, and it had 4,500 riders on an average weekend, six times the city's projected ridership; in total, the ferry saw 350,000 riders in that period, over 250% of the initial ridership forecast of 134,000 riders.In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy on October 29, 2012, massive infrastructural damage to the IND Rockaway Line south of the Howard Beach–JFK Airport station severed all direct subway connections between the Rockaways, Broad Channel, and the Queens mainland for seven months. Ferry operator SeaStreak began running a city-subsidized ferry service between a makeshift ferry slip at Beach 108th Street and Beach Channel Drive in Rockaway Park, Queens, and Pier 11/Wall Street, then continuing on to the East 34th Street Ferry Landing. A stop at Brooklyn Army Terminal was added in August 2013 because of the reconstruction of the Montague Street Tunnel, which temporarily suspended R train service through the tunnel. The ferry proved to be popular and its license was extended several times, as city officials evaluated the ridership numbers to determine whether to establish the service on a permanent basis. Between its inception and December 2013, the service had carried close to 200,000 riders.
The NYCEDC study was updated in 2013, following the introduction of the SeaStreak Rockaway ferry. The study, called "CFS2013", showed the effect of ferry services in New York City, citing the success of the East River ferry. Specifically, ferry service raised the values of real estate within of ferry landings by an average of 1.2%; spurred new construction near ferry stops; added more transport options; and helped relieve crowding on other parts of New York City's transport network. The study also suggested extra routes that could be added to serve all five boroughs. The specific idea of a citywide ferry was also first proposed in the study. When the city government announced its budget in late June 2014 for the upcoming fiscal year beginning July 1, the Rockaway ferry only received a $2 million further appropriation, enough to temporarily extend it again through October. The administration of Mayor Bill de Blasio stated that there was not enough ridership to justify the cost of operation. Despite last-minute advocacy, ferry service ended on October 31, 2014, and supporters continued to try to restore ferry service. he mayor's office eventually agreed to restart the Rockaway ferry when the NYC Ferry system opened.
Staten Island to Midtown fast ferry
By the late 1980s, ferries had again become a popular mode of transport in the New York City area. A ferry line from Staten Island to Midtown Manhattan was proposed in the early 1990s; this new ferry would travel at top speeds of. New York Fast Ferry was ultimately selected to run a ferry from St. George on Staten Island to East 34th Street in Midtown Manhattan; it opened in January 1997 and saw about 1,650 commuters a day. The Midtown ferry proved successful until the city made the New York City Department of Transportation 's Staten Island Ferry fare-free in mid-1997. As a result, daily ridership on the $5-per-ticket Midtown ferry decreased to 400 passengers, and New York Fast Ferry was unable to make a profit on the route. New York Fast Ferry went out of business at the end of 1997, at which point NY Waterway took over the route. NY Waterway also failed to break even on the Midtown route, and it was eliminated on July 31, 1998.In 2013, city councilman James Oddo advocated for a revival of fast ferry service to Staten Island as part of his campaign to become that borough's president. After Oddo's election as borough president, he pushed New York City mayor Bill de Blasio to consider a Staten Island fast ferry as part of what would become NYC Ferry. At the time, the system's only proposed ferry stop on Staten Island was at Stapleton, but funding for the Stapleton route was later withdrawn. When NYC Ferry eventually opened in 2017, politicians and Staten Island residents again advocated bringing more ferry service to Staten Island, including adding one ferry each to Manhattan and Brooklyn, a stop on the South Shore, and extra stops on the NYCDOT's Staten Island Ferry line. In April 2017, Oddo announced a tentative agreement with NY Waterway to possibly implement a fast route from St. George to Midtown Manhattan in 2018. The ferry would go to West Midtown Ferry Terminal, as opposed to East 34th Street, and would not have received any per-passenger subsidies from the city. By September 2017, private developers on the South Shore were also negotiating with SeaStreak to run a separate fast ferry route from the South Shore to Lower Manhattan.