page_title: NYC Ferry
section_title: Revival of ferries
hierarchical_section_title: NYC Ferry / Background / Revival of ferries
caption_attribution_description: English: East River Ferry, operated by NY Waterway, approaching the Brooklyn Bridge.
context_page_description: NYC Ferry is a network of ferry routes in New York City operated by Hornblower Cruises. As of August 2018, there are six routes connecting 21 ferry piers in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens. NYC Ferry has a total of 31 vessels, providing half-hourly to hourly service on each of the routes. As of May 2019, two additional routes and five new piers are planned; the expansion would extend the system to Staten Island, the only New York City borough not served by NYC Ferry.
  Prior to NYC Ferry, there had been many ferries that traversed the East River and Hudson River, although by the 1960s, almost all ferry services citywide had been discontinued due to the popularity of road and rail transit across the rivers. Ferries in New York City saw a revival in the 1980s and 1990s. As a result of two studies in 2011 and 2013 that showed the effects of these recent ferries, the city officially proposed its own ferry service in 2013, separate from existing New York City ferry systems such as NY Waterway, New York Water Taxi, and the Staten Island Ferry.
context_section_description: In early 2011, the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC), and the NYC & Company water travel initiative NYHarborWay, worked with the New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT) 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.
  In June 2011, the NY Waterway-operated East River Ferry line started operations. The route was a 7-stop East River service that runs in a loop between East 34th Street and Hunters Point, making two intermediate stops in Brooklyn and three 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 (A train) 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 1 mile (1.6 km) of ferry landings by an average of 1.2%; spurred new construction near ferry stops; added more transport options to neighborhoods with few transit alternatives; 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 the ferry system, with proposed routes that would serve new development in 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 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 efforts by local transportation advocates, civic leaders, and elected officials, ferry service ended on October 31, 2014. They promised to continue efforts to have the service restored. This led to many negotiations between the mayor's office and the parties interested in reopening the ferry. The mayor's office eventually a
caption: NYC Ferry's East River line in its former NY Waterway livery
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