There’s another stop, but still no start.
A new ferry port at the Navy Yard will eventually join five others opening up on the Brooklyn waterfront, Mayor DeBasio announced Wednesday — but he refused say when the new city-wide boat-based transit service will actually set sail beyond sometime “this summer,” saying straphangers will have to wait until next month to find out.
“My specific target is ‘this summer,’ ” Hizzoner said at a press conference. “In April we will have the announcement of specific dates and phases, but right now we’re going to have a nice, clear ‘this summer.’ ”
The city has previously said the new service will launch in June, but even if that holds true, the lines won’t all start at that time, officials also revealed.
The “Rockaway” route — between the titular seaside Queens neighborhood, the Army Terminal in Sunset Park, and Manhattan — will launch first, followed by the “South Brooklyn” line — which will hit stops in Bay Ridge, the Brooklyn Army Terminal, Red Hook, and two in Brooklyn Bridge Park — according to city Economic Development Corporation spokesman Anthony Hogrebe. An “Astoria” route in Queens will be third, he said.
The newly revealed Navy Yard stop will join the existing East River Ferry route — which sails between Dumbo and Greenpoint — and won’t open until 2018. The Fort Greene former shipyard will also house the new ferry system’s “home port,” where operator Hornblower will dock, refuel, and maintain its 20-vessel fleet, DeBlasio said.
There is also a proposed leg between Coney Island, Staten Island, and Manhattan, but that doesn’t have the go-ahead yet.
A ferry trip will cost the same as a ride on the subway — even the East River Ferry, which will drop its current $4–$6 fare — but there is still no deal with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority for free transfers to trains or buses, the mayor said.
“It would be ideal if we could do it as a single fare, but that’s going to take some real work because they’re operating on different systems and there’s real budgetary ramifications,” he said. “I can’t guarantee it.”
DeBlasio also used Wednesday’s presser to tout the jobs now up for grabs with the ferry service — including captains, deckhands, engineers, and maintenance workers. You can check them out at www.citywideferry.nyc/jobs.
