Mayor de Blasio Plans to Spend $300 Million More on Ferries as Ridership Surges

Absolute nonsense. A vanity play by the mayor like his idea for a streetcar in Brooklyn. Fix the subways for the millions, then if there is money left over subsidize a ferry service that serves only a tiny fraction of the city's residents. And while you are at it, raise the Staten Island Ferry to a subway fare.

The big issue that no one is talking about is the use of ferries by tourists as a $2.75 sightseeing boat (the curse of the guidebook, I suppose). It was actually better when the ferries were $4 and $6 on weekends, but now when the weather is good you have to let one boat after another go by because there's no room for commuters. They should charge non-New York City residents or employees more--if it doesn't eliminate crowding at least it will help supplement the cost to the city. And lest you think I'm one of the waterfront wealthy (which I'm not), I walk 1.5 miles to the dock every day and then .75 miles to my job in all weather. It's still faster than the 3 slow, unreliable subway lines I need to take to go 4.5 miles to my job plus I get exercise and light. The subway and buses are not the solution for those of us who don't live on direct lines. And the ferries are a civilized commute.

The negativity in the comments is rather surprising to me. I’m guessing it comes mainly from people who don’t need or use the service. I have used the ferry service for work for over 5 years. Since I am a freelance worker, I don’t travel the same route way daily, but the ferry has been a valuable, albeit formerly expensive option during L and 7 shutdowns. When the fare was $4 or $5, the cost was much more of a consideration. Making it the same as regular bus and subway fares was a great idea. The ferry is the main reason that I have kept a client in Long Island City (they are not rich people, BTW — some of those units are affordable housing). In the past, in order to get to LIC, I generally had to travel crosstown to get the Lexington Avenue train, then down into the bowels of the earth at Grand Central to get the 7 (assuming it was even running) to Vernon-Jackson, then a walk of 8-10 minutes. Now I can either walk to 34th or take the bus, and get the ferry. Sometimes my route and schedule include jobs near the ferry terminal. The ferry ride to LIC seldom takes more than 5 minutes. My current LIC client is 5 minutes from the ferry landing. I have a reduced-fare Metrocard, and it doesn’t bother one iota to pay full fare for the ferry. For me, the benefits significantly outweigh the negatives, And I say this despite being unhappy about what the new east side route is going to do to my favorite local park in Stuyvesant Cove.

Get Ferry service from Manhattan to Kennedy Airport - great for tourism.

Poor people subsidizing rich people. Yay!

"Demand for the heavily subsidized ferries..." Heavily subsidize anything and the demand will surge, until you run out of other peoples' money!

Subsidize this and that and no thought to curtailing our NYC tax rate. If it cost $6.75 per ride, that’s what riders should pay. Don’t like the price? Walk !!!

THANK YOU mayor!!!!! Love, Bay Ridge Resident in love with the ferries.

It would be nice if the NYT could add some factual context rather than simply relaying BdB's propaganda about this sham. Subway and bus service serves many more users than the ferry system and yet the subway and bus networks are an absolute disaster. This money should be going to fixing those transit systems, not subsidizing transit for a small handful of New York City residents who live in waterfront neighborhoods.

Nothing wrong with mankind use of NY waterways. Ferry fares should be closer to their cost, even if that means higher than subways. After all, convenience has its costs and should be recoverable

Giving stuff away creates more demand. Who knew?

What safety measures do these ferries have? What happens in bad weather? It is too hard to find information, and I see too many odious complaints about service. It is great to have this alternative, but matching the subway fare seems foolish, particularly if it's luxurious.

Maybe the fare should be the same as for the fancy express buses, not the subway and regular MTA buses. That would bring the subsidy down to more equitable levels.

When will the SI ferry get headways of 20-25 minutes during the day and weekends? As a major commuter ferry and tourist boat, the ferry does not run often enough to keep up with the demand. Even before the major sumner tourist rush this year, boats were getting cancelled as there were too many people penned up in the waiting area to get on the smaller boats in the fleet. With the rapid development happening on the island, there is a greater need for more reliable, consistent times in between boats. These are also necessary for commuters trying to catch a train/boat connection on the island side. These bus connections were supposed to be increased over the past 2 years as well, but they are sitting on the results of the study and poor connections to the boat and travel within Staten Island remain for those that depend on public transportation.

While I applaud most expansions of public transit in the city, why is the city subsidizing ferry fares out of its budget? Isn't this metropolitan transit, and shouldn't the MTA be tasked with providing such service to those New Yorkers not served by its current offerings? Maybe some of that NY State income and sales tax we are sending up to Albany can make it back down here and do us some good.

Too bad some of these comments are correct - because there’s no doubt the ferries are better to ride than the subways. ( If you don’t think so - take one.) and it’s clear that 250 people per train car is pretty efficient - however riding a rush hour subway with 250 people per car is dehumanizing - and that’s a gracious way to describe it. However - ferries are scheduled to start service to the Bronx - a few blocks walk from varied neighborhoods- Yes the fares need to rise for some - I think you could protect subsidies for commuters tho, by forcing single ride trips - not 30 day metro cards - to be more expensive than they are now - The boats will need to get bigger and more need to be in service - and will relieve the stress on subways which are absolutely untenable right now - (this is completely the responsibility of this governor ) Of course we should concurrently improve subways - but they’re (aforementioned governor’s) doing that now - and not a bit of the renovations are fixing the antiquated switching system - a total joke. Yes - it’s all a mess - but how about collecting some real estate taxes for these subsidized high rise condos which are making Manhattan a nightmare - And take the ferry - ! or if you need to - ride a bike to the ferry - at least once in a while - it’ll make you healthy - and you’ll be smiling all day -

There’s certainly some hostility in these comments about the “wealthy” people who benefit from ferry service, the well-documented neglect of MTA infrastructure generally, and other such matters. However, NYC is grotesquely behind in term of having a ferry system commensurate with its geography. The bridge system (particularly with respect the NY/NJ boarder) is prohibitively out of date, and the waterways around the city have been underutilized for decades (if not generations). The only way to get the most out of the waterways is to—at long last—get more ferries out there. We need them. They’re a necessary emergency management feature for when tunnels and bridges are damaged or are under repair, and they’re the only way that NY will be able to manage the expected growth in its population over the next few decades.

As much as the city needs this alternative means of transportation - can someone at the Times look at the environmental impact these ferries leave behind on this already polluted harbor. I used to take the SI ferry daily and the amount of smoke piping out of those ferry engines is real. The harbor is already trafficking boats, ships and ferries of other kinds. What is the long term impact on the waters?!

NYC Ferry claims its contract prevents it from offering single-ride reduced fares for the elderly and disabled, only monthly passes. As "Francine B" emailed me on March 28th: "As you know we are a city project so we are contracted we [sic] and are issued these policies and guidelines. We will love to have the reduced fare apply to the one-way passes however we only been granted the monthly passes." Monthly reduced fare tickets are fine for full-time working elderly and disabled. What about the rest of us? City Council, take note.

Meanwhile, I pay $272 per month at NY Waterway Port Imperial ( or $9.00 each way) to get across the Hudson river daily on my commute into NYC from New Jersey. I realize NY Waterway is privately owned, but this $2.75 per ride doesn't sound so bad to me.

Curious, so how much does the ride actually cost...$5, $18, $2.75? Hence, is the subsidy worthwhile or too large? Would be a key fact for readers to know to form opinions on the decision.

In the meantime Citibike is supposed to support itself without city funding, and serves far more people daily than the ferries will ever do.

getting the homeless people using subway cars as shelters into actual shelters would create more capacity than adding ferries.

As far as public transportation in NYC, there isn’t much good news. But this actually is. People shouldn’t be so negative about everything. This is good news.

The subway is more efficient and cost effective and if it wasn’t a homeless shelter it’d be just fine.

The mayor is subsiding a group that doesn't require a subsidy; waterfront residents are typically not average income New Yorkers. Ferries are indeed nice, but a luxury. What is the mayor doing to address subway overcrowding and the lack of funding to complete a mandated signal replacement program?

"He committed about $390 million to build docks in waterfront neighborhoods that were poorly served by the city’s public transit system..." Since these areas are underserved by mass transit, you have to ask, who are these poor neglected souls? They are the vapid wealthy who paid top-dollar for riverside views along the waterfront Bloomberg rezoned at the behest of his developer pals. Anyone who bought into one of these towers was well aware of their distance from public transit, but they just absolutely had to have those bragging rights. Now they also get to pay subsidized fares for their own personal ferry service, at their very doorsteps. What's next, sedan chairs? It's great that people in the Rockaways will benefit, but let's not pretend this is being done for them - or the people in the Red Hook houses. Much is made over the De Blasio/Cuomo rivalry but one thing they have in common is that they, and everyone else involved in NY government is completely subservient to real estate interests. Everything that happens in this city should be examined in this light.

Why is the fare for use of these ferries only $2.75? Surely the cost of a ride is more than that. As usaul, the users are being subsidized, as are the subway and bus riders. And who is paying the difference? Those of us who are forced to use MTA bridges and tunnels. 90% of our outlandish tolls (currently $8.50 each way on the Whitestone and Throgs Neck bridges which I am forced to use to visit relatives on Long Island) goes directly to paying the way for users of ferries, buses and subways.

$300M could fix two subway interlockings on the A/C Fulton line (which are currently 80 years old), which serves some of NYC's poorest neighborhoods. But the "tale of two cities" Mayor would rather subsidize luxury ferry transportation. WHAT. A. HACK.

What about the 3000 children living in shelter. How much do they get. And the schools. How much for them.

Upper Manhattan on the east side, would love to get down to midtown east without the crosstown trip. And would love to use ferry on weekend instead of pin-wheeling around the broken subway system constantly under repair on weekends (including nearly all weekends this month). Does MTA have any idea of disruption to family life when #1 not running and A/C flipflopping between local and express? It's not just people on weekends, it's kids, strollers, visitors, shopping bags, all shuffling from shuttle bus to train. You never know where you are. Shuttle buses are a mess--last weekend at 168th it was gridlocked with buses, and in choosing to leave riders on the uptown side of the area, the buses had to negotiate 4 extra lights (mainly red ones of course) it took nearly 30 mins to go the equivalent of 2 subway stops above land. And, no, I don't want to go to 59th St so I can get on another train to go back the way I just came because it's the only way to get to my destination! And no, I don't want to pay $4. I want to pay with my metrocard, $2.75, less for my kid. Thank you.

The fare is underpriced. Should be $5.

Subway and bus ridership for 2 days would more than eclipse the annual ferry ridership that de Blasio expects, even after this expansion. This money would be put to much better use funding the needed bus improvements by the DOT that Andy Byford spoke of last week. It would also help a much more worthy lower-income population, one that de Blasio purports to care about, instead of subsidizing the wealthy waterfront real estate developers that have funded his campaigns.

The subway-equivalent fare seems so democratic, but the reality is that many of these passengers were willing to pay $4 a ride with the old subsidy. That's because the majority of waterfront neighborhoods served by Citywide Ferry are home to people with higher salaries and assets. What would really be fair is if the Mayor charged a higher fare for ferries, took the extra money earned, combined it with the $300 million he wants to spend on the commuter ferry service, and spent the money on providing better subway and bus transportation for people in low-to-middle-income neighborhoods. Ferries are great, but integrate them with our mass transit system in ways that are cost-effective

The ferries are wonderful. The confusing information and constant sense of chaos on the docks is not. There has to be a way to map the lines (including all the companies that run ferries) in one simple map, with clear signage and a coordinated app. Every time I use the ferry at Brooklyn Bridge Park there is shouting from crew members (THIS BOAT IS NOT GOING TO WALL STREET!) and multiple globs of people who have no idea where to stand or line up or buy tickets. Granted, lots of tourists use that dock, but it still feels like Hey! My-Dad-has-some-boats! Let’s-make-a-ferry-service!

I work on Park and 48th Street and would LOVE to take Ferry from the Bronx to 44th Street (the UN) pier, especially now in the Summer - and walk to work! But.... Nada! No plans for Bronx Ferry Service??? Or don't we count anymore?