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As A Parting Gift, De Blasio Opens New NYC Ferry Landing In The Bronx
By
Stephen Nessen
Published Dec 29, 2021
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Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office
By
Stephen Nessen
Published Dec 29, 2021
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The city launched a new ferry landing in the Bronx Tuesday, adding one stop to the Soundview ferry route. The new dock is located in Throgs Neck at Ferry Point Park, which will become the new terminal stop, with the next pick up points at Soundview, East 90th Street, 34th Street, and Stuyvesant Cove before the final stop in Lower Manhattan at Pier 11 near Wall Street.
The city estimates the entire “one-seat” commute, end-to-end, should take about an hour.
Traveling from Throgs Neck to Wall Street by bus and/or train would take about an hour-and-a-half and cost the same as the ferry at $2.75.
Ferries run every 40 minutes during peak rush hour, and every hour at off-peak times. During the winter, on weekends, it runs every 75 minutes.
In Mayor Bill de Blasio’s final year in office he added a ferry route to Staten Island, which connects St. George to Battery Park—a route already serviced by the Staten Island Ferry— but was unable to build a new ferry landing to Coney Island, which is still planned for 2022, or start daily service year-round to Governors Island (Governors Island service is only on the weekends now).
“This community deserves this. This community deserves to be more connected, and the ferry allows that to happen in an incredible way,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said Tuesday. ”Let’s go farther, let’s build a ferry system that reaches every corner of the city.”
Mayor Bill de Blasio at the opening of the Throgs Neck NYC Ferry stop on December 28, 2021
Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office
The ferry network, which increased during de Blasio’s term to six routes, is subsidized by the city at a rate far greater than the subways or buses. While mass transit isn’t expected to turn a profit, one ferry trip costs riders $2.75, but costs the city more than $10 to subsidize the actual cost of operating the service. Subways and buses are subsidized by about $1. As the city comptroller put it, the subways serve more people in one day than the ferries serve all year.
The ridership also skews white and wealthy. In 2019, the city’s Economic Development Corporation, a non-profit group that works with and uses city resources, runs the ferry service, and reported that 64% of ferry riders were white with a median income of $75,000 to $100,000.
Sean Campion with the Citizens Budget Commission told Gothamist earlier this year that, with the ongoing expansion and continued service, the city will continue to subsidize ferry use at a high rate.
The mayor has called on the MTA to allow free transfers between the subway and bus and the ferry.
As of publishing, the MTA has not returned emails for comment about free transfers.
“The abstract concept of a citywide ferry system is more appealing than real life ferry service, and this is a good example,” Ben Fried, with the think tank Transit Center, wrote in a statement. “With boats only coming every 40 minutes, the service to Throgs Neck is not going to work well as transportation. And because ferry service is so heavily subsidized, making the route more frequent would be throwing good money after bad. There’s no way to make it pencil out.”
While more transit options, particularly in the Bronx which is often referred to by advocates as a transit desert, would be a good thing for residents, a quick look at a map shows the new ferry landing is only accessible by vehicle or bicycle. Public housing residents of the nearby Throgs Neck Houses would have to walk 45 minutes to reach the new ferry landing.
The route from the Throgs Neck Houses to the Throgs Neck NYC Ferry stop
Google Maps
The city’s announcement about the new landing did note, “A small electric transit vehicle will be available, with preference to seniors and people with disabilities, to shuttle riders from the parking lot to the ferry landing.”
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Stephen Nessen
Stephen Nessen covers transportation. Since 2008 he has reported on everything from Occupy Wall Street, the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site, Hurricane Sandy, to Trump’s campaign for president. His transportation reporting has taken him everywhere from the MTA’s secret Rail Control Center to the gleaming subways of Seoul. Got a tip? Email [email protected].
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