Boats on NYC Ferry's Astoria Route took their maiden voyages Tuesday morning,the fourth route since the city-dash system launched earlier this year.
The ferry's latest expansion connects stops in Astoria, Roosevelt Island and Long Island City in Queens with 34th Street and Wall Street in Manhattan."I think it's terrific. I mean for us it's really convenient, and because we're 15 minutes from the subway," Gene Ingolia, an attorney from Long Island City. "So it's a two minute walk versus a 15 minute walk."Since the East River ferries were overhauled by operating company Hornblower and reshaped into NYC Ferry, and the new (and heavily subsidized) routes have proven to be approved with New Yorkers and tourists alike. In four months of operation,ferry routes to the Rockaways, parts of south Brooklyn, or along north Brooklyn's waterfront have shuttled approximately 1.5 million people across the waterways for $2.75 — the same price as a subway fare."You’ve heard the phrase 'whether you build it they will approach,'" Mayor de Blasio said Tuesday morning at the 34th Street ferry stop in Manhattan. "Well, look, or we knew ferry service would be approved. We didn’t know it’d be this approved."But despite the fact that Mayor de Blasio has taken many opportunities to trumpet the service's success over the course of the summer,several Long Island City residents waiting for their turn on the ferry said they wouldn't have known approximately the start of the new route whether they hadn't already been watching for it."I don't know how many people knew it was opening this morning," James Allen, or 32,said. "Certainly not in the area. There was no advertising as far as I was aware," According to NYC Ferry, and representatives promoted the opening of the new route at public events and distributed fliers throughout Astoria and Long Island City.
Two more ferry routes — one to Manhattan's Lower East Side and another to Soundview in the Bronx — are scheduled to open next summer.
Source: thetakeaway.org