The city will open its newest ferry stop at Fort Greene’s Navy Yard on May 20.
The Economic Development Corporation, the quasi-governmental agency tasked with growing the city’s economy that operates the ferry system, will add the only Kings County landing to the Astoria route, which sets sail from the northern hinterlands of Queens and terminates on the distant isle of Manhattan.
The brand new berth sits adjacent to the Navy Yard’s Dock 72 and passengers who aren’t tenants at the industrial complex must enter at Flushing and Vanderbilt avenues and pass through Building 77, a spokeswoman for the ferry operator Hornblower told Community Board 2’s transportation Committee on May 16.
“They’re going to allow non-tenants to walk through Building 77 and there’s going to be a gate that’s going to be open out the back,” said Elana Ehrenberg.
The landing is accessible to people with disabilities and bike-bearing waterborne commuters will have to pass through the yard’s Clinton Avenue gate and tell the security guard there that they’re going to the ferry, according Ehrenberg.
The crossing to Manhattan will take some 10 minutes and the new stop will add four minutes to the route’s overall travel time, totaling at 45 minutes one way, according to the agency.
Boats will launch into the East River between every 25-50 minutes, according to its new summer schedule.
The Astoria route had an average daily ridership of 2,728 during weekdays and 2,421 on weekends in 2018, according to the agency’s data.
The new stop is part of Hizzoner’s latest expansion plan of his beloved ferry service he announced last January, which will include new ports of call in Coney Island, the Bronx, and Staten Island.
