NYC Ferry’s Lower East Side dock starts construction ahead of summer launch

The city is gearing up to launch two new NYC Ferry routes this summer; on Wednesday, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the start of construction on a new ferry landing on the Lower East Side, one of four new landings to be built before the summer launch.

The two new routes launching this summer will serve commuters on the Lower East Side, South Bronx, and the Upper East Side. The Lower East Side ferry will offer connections from Wall St./Pier 11 to Long Island City making stops at Corlears Hook, Stuyvesant Town, and East 34th Street along the way.

Lower East Side residents will have a 7-minute ride to Wall Street and a 17-minute ride to Midtown once the service gets underway. The route is expected to serve 1 million riders annually, and will be particularly beneficial to thousands of families living in four NYCHA developments—the Baruch, Jacob Riis, La Guardia and Vladeck Houses—who presently have very limited access to public transportation.

The other new route will connect Soundview, in the Bronx, to Wall St./Pier 11 with stops at East 90th and East 34th Streets. Construction is now underway on the new docks at Corlears Hook, Stuyvesant Cove, East 90th Street, and Clason Point Park in the Bronx.

2017 marked the first year of service for the ferry, an enormously popular mode of transit, which has already served 3 million riders, 34 percent more than what the city projected for that year. To meet this growing demand, the city is planning to add six large vessels that will fit up to 349 people—the first three of these will arrive this summer.

When the two new routes are up and running, NYC ferry will have 20 vessels operating out of 21 landings across the city.

• Nearly 3 million people rode the NYC ferry in 2017 [Curbed]