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Ferry Dock to Open at Northern Tip of Gantry Plaza State Park By Next Summer

Rendering

Rendering

Sept. 19, 2016 By Hannah Wulkan

The city will open a second ferry dock in Long Island City next summer at the northern tip of Gantry Plaza State Park.

The new dock will be a part of the larger expansion plan for the ferry system to try to take pressure off of the already overtaxed transportation system throughout the city, explained local officials at a press conference today.

The new ferry dock will begin service next summer, and is projected to have the highest ridership of any ferry stop outside of Manhattan, running almost 4,000 trips per day to the east side of Manhattan and to Roosevelt Island, said New York City Economic Development Corporation President Maria Torres-Springer.

“While we know that New York City has the best mass transit system in the country, the century old system is really running up against its limits,” Torres-Springer said. “What Citywide Ferry will allow us to do is make sure that the residents and businesses of these communities are not just able to connect with each other but are really able to connect employment hubs in all five boroughs.”

Proposed sites.

Proposed sites.

The cost of riding the ferry will be $2.75 per trip, just like the cost of taking the subway or a bus, she said.

“We, the people of Long Island City, desperately need more diverse and ample modes of transportation,” said Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer.

“This is one of the fastest growing communities in all of New York City, and one of the most desirable communities to live in, and so therefore, there are certain pressures that get placed on the transportation infrastructure,” Van Bramer added. “Getting to and from Manhattan and other parts of the city become increasingly important, and the 7 train simply cant handle everyone, we know that, so its incumbent upon all of us in government to make sure that there are more options, better options, and ferry service has proven incredibly popular.”

The EDC decided to put the new dock on Center Boulevard, though there were early talks of putting it further north on 44th Drive on the other side of Anable Basin, looking ahead to future development.

Senator Michael Gianaris spoke on this point, and explained that the dock itself is modular and can be moved further north fairly easily, if it comes to the point where it would be more convenient for more people. “We look forward to continuing to find even more great ways for people to get around rather than waiting for the 7 train to show up, which is an adventure for anyone who is trying to do it,” Gianaris said.

Assembly Member Cathy Nolan addressed her early reservations about the project, explaining that she was concerned about taking away parkland in favor of long commuter lines.

“I think that with the developments and these really gigantic, very dense apartment buildings and the very high towers we need as much open space as we promised people almost 30 years ago, so I was a little concerned how the ferry would interact,” she said.

She added that while she believes the EDC and all organizations involved in the project came to a good compromise, she plans to keep a close eye on the project as it moves forward “to make sure that it is not something that either environmentally or in an open space way that hurts the existing parkland that we have.”

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14 Comments

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Pedro Valdez Rivera Jr.

A “catch-22:” Good for ferry riders, even better for real estate developers along the Queens waterfront. However, bad for everybody else, especially for low-income, working-class folks, who cannot afford the rising rents surrounding the rise of real estate development.

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Jake

According to the published route map there will be additional Manhattan stops at E. 62nd St. and E. 90th St. These stops might be useful for people who work further north in Manhattan. Unfortunately only ferries from the Bronx or Wall St. will go to these locations. Ferries heading north from LIC will end in Astoria. This makes no sense.
Here’s the route map: http://gothamist.com/2015/02/04/expanded_ferry_map_nyc.php

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Float?

What about a small floating pontoon bridge, on like the military uses, purely for people and bikes? Have a section break away for passing boats. Maybe the current is too strong.

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Zipline

They passed on the float in ffavour of a zipline, which will commence at 4610 and land over the UN on 44th street. Project begins in Spring of 2018.

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How

It’s such a sort trip across. There has to be a cheaper way to do it. It’s not like the San Fran bay, Jesus.

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Anonymous

“The cost of riding the ferry will be $2.75 per trip…”

Wonder what the actual cost of a trip would be if it wasn’t government subsidized and it covered all the overhead without losing money.

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the_the

Sure the ferries are smokey and noisy but such a cool way to travel and maybe it’ll bring more highly paid Wall St people into the neighborhood.
I’d say it is a slam dunk win for all.

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climber

there aren’t any well paid people on wall street now.. it is just a bunch of tourists..

all the banks are in midtown, which requires the use of the 7

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brooklynmc

Oh great. More highly paid Wall Street people. Are you serious? You must own an overpriced restaurant. As for the ferry, I think it is great that it is going to be much cheaper and more easily accessible to people on this side of Center Blvd. We live right by the proposed dock and I couldn’t be happier. The bad part is that it lets out on 34th street near pretty much nothing. They really need to start thinking about how to connect the ferries to the subways.

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LICRes

Was putting it less than 100 feet away from an apartment building the best possible spot? Aren’t these ferries required to blow their horn as they back up? This should go over really well with the tenants in those buildings when the ferries begin running at 6am. This decision seems very short sighted.

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Mike

I’m skeptical of the ferry as a replacement for the 7.

Unless you’re going to the easternmost part of Manhattan or the Financial District, the Manhattan ferry stops aren’t close enough to a destination and are too far from even the closest subway lines.

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