NYC Ferry ridership has already broken records with 1 million riders in August for the first time since its inception in 2017.

Now, the New York City Economic Development Corporation, also known as NYCEDC, has a plan that aims to increase ridership even more with new “optimized” routes that connect more places and people.

What You Need To Know

The new route maps took into account 15,000 public comments and ways to bring more people to economic centers more quickly but also provide service for weekend riders traveling for leisure

About 90% of survey respondents said they would use the ferry more when asked about the proposed new routes, which were released in July

The new routes, which provide service from the west to east side, as well as between Brooklyn and Staten Island, are set to begin Dec. 8 and the New York City Economic Development Corporation, or EDC, is also looking at expanding the 34th Street landing and adding ones at East 125th Street and the MADE/Bush Terminal in Sunset Park

“The optimized routes will shorten commuter times, provide passengers with more places to go and improve the overall efficiency of the system,” Andrew Kimball, president and CEO of NYCEDC, said.

The plan has a new connection between Staten Island, Bay Ridge in Brooklyn and Manhattan. It will also connect the west and east sides.

It also better connects the Bronx and south Brooklyn to Manhattan and creates a continuous route between the Bronx and the Rockaways in Queens.

Riders say the less they have to change boats, the better.

“A couple of years back, we used to change over [at] Wall Street and then change over to the Rockaway ferry,” Bronx ferry rider David Arenas said. “It’s great, even better. Stay on one boat and continue straight down.”

“It will save people from having to change and wait for another boat,” Rockaway ferry rider Leon Paley said. “They can just keep going.”

The NYCEDC says there were 15,000 responses to the proposed changes and, based on those, leaders believe ridership will grow by at least a million over the next two years.

“When we discussed this new route optimization, over 90% of the respondents said, ‘Yes, this will make me more likely to use NYC Ferry,’” Kimball said.

More riders will keep the price down and the cost to taxpayers.

The subsidy has been reduced by 36% in the last four years to just over $8 per passenger. It’s expected to drop by another dollar with the increased ridership.

NYC Ferry is still looking to expand at little cost.

“The two landings that we are moving forward on are landings that can be added with relatively low cost,” Kimball said. “So, they’re on an existing line. So really de minimis, a few cents on the per-passenger subsidy to be able to bring a landing up to East 125th Street, into the MADE Campus in Sunset Park.”

NYC Ferry will also expand the landing at 34th Street to add capacity. Meanwhile, the new ferry service will go into effect on Dec. 8.