STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Beginning next month, there will be a ferry connection between Staten Island and Brooklyn.
At a press conference on Monday, the New York City Economic Development Corporation announced it will move forward with proposed changes to the NYC Ferry system, including a connection from St. George to Bay Ridge.
Previously, the St. George route on the NYC Ferry would only connect to western Manhattan, stopping at Battery Park City and Midtown West at Pier 79.
Now, a second leg will be added to the route that will cross New York Harbor from the Island’s North Shore to Bay Ridge, before continuing to the Atlantic Avenue stop at Brooklyn Bridge Park.
The final stop on this leg of the route will be Wall Street at Pier 11. This will connect commuters from Staten Island to the rest of the NYC Ferry system, which mainly operates in the East River.
According to officials at the press conference, the new routes will go into effect beginning Monday, Dec. 8.
“I am thrilled that Staten Island is finally being connected to the full NYC Ferry system. This long-overdue expansion is not just a victory for transit equity, but a vital step forward in strengthening our borough’s connection to the rest of the city,” said Councilmember Kamillah Hanks, a Democrat representing the Island’s North Shore and longtime supporter of the connection to Brooklyn.
The new map of routes for the NYC Ferry, seen here, will go into effect on Dec. 8.(Courtesy of New York City Economic Development Corporation)
A ferry used to run between Staten Island and Brooklyn, but it was put out of service within days of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge opening in 1964.
Though Monday’s announcement made no mention of a schedule for the new route, EDC officials previously said that trips could run every 34 minutes on weekday peak times and summer weekends, and every 50 minutes during weekday off-peak hours.
Currently, the St. George line runs every 28 minutes during peak hours and every 41 minutes during off-peak hours.
Beyond the changes to the St. George route, several other changes are coming to the NYC Ferry system:
The current East River route will be split in two to ensure more seats are available throughout the day.The Soundview and Rockaway routes will be combined into one, and run approximately every 45 minutes.The South Brooklyn Route will offer direct connections from Red Hook and Atlantic Avenue to Midtown with increased frequency during peak hours.
After the new routes were first proposed in July, the EDC opened a public comment period to solicit feedback on the changes.
On Monday, officials shared that the agency received over 15,000 responses, with the clear majority supporting the system changes.
According to the EDC, nearly 90% of respondents said they would “ride the ferry more often or continue to ride the ferry at the same frequency,” should the changes go through.
The EDC said that the route changes will shorten commute times while also growing ridership and reducing the system’s per-rider-subsidy.
“NYCEDC is thrilled to announce the finalized Ferry Optimization Plan, marking the first-ever systemwide redesign to deliver faster commutes, better connections, and improved service for New Yorkers across all five boroughs,” said Andrew Kimball, president and CEO for the EDC.
Previously, the EDC had long told the Advance/SILive.com that it was not looking to expand the ferry system and would instead focus on improving current service and making the system more financially sustainable.
The NYC Ferry was met with near-immediate calls to add additional service to South Brooklyn at the 2021 launch of the route connecting the borough’s North Shore to Manhattan, including from former Borough President James Oddo. In spite of this, officials from the EDC said in 2022 that expansion was on hold because of financial issues with the system.
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