This morning Mayor de Blasio delivered his annual State of the City address, and amongst the barrage of information he laid on the table was an announcement that the city will dramatically increase its ferry service by 2017. Although the move may seem contrary to the city's earlier attitude against ferriesthey did suspend Rockaway Ferry service practically overnight, after allDNAinfo reports that the decision to subsidize the waterborne transportation method comes from a need to expand beyond the subways as New York's population grows. In addition to routes from Rockaway, service will expand to include Astoria, Long Island City, Red Hook, Brooklyn Army Terminal, the Lower East Side and Soundview in the Bronx. While the expanded service is exciting, its also really, really exciting that rides will cost as much as a trip on the subway.
Not everyone is pro-ferry though. StreetsBlog, which thinks about transportation pretty much all day, thinks increasing bus rapid transit would be a lot more beneficial to the city than expanded ferry service.
Proposed Routes for NYC's Expanded Ferry Service. by DNAinfoNewYork
· New Ferries Coming to Rockaway, Astoria, The Bronx, LES and Brooklyn [DNA]
· $200 Million From the City to Develop...New Ferries... [W2tB]
· Bus Rapid Transit, Not Ferry Subsidies, Would Help Struggling New Yorkers [SB]
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