New Ferry Service Between Brooklyn and Guvs Island!
In about half an hour, the Brooklyn Bridge Park Development Corporation and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey will hold a press conference on the waterfront to announce the creation of a new water taxi dock on Pier 6 that will provide direct ferry service between the park and Governors Island. Having…
In about half an hour, the Brooklyn Bridge Park Development Corporation and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey will hold a press conference on the waterfront to announce the creation of a new water taxi dock on Pier 6 that will provide direct ferry service between the park and Governors Island. Having had to shlepp to lower Manhattan last Sunday to access the island, we’re pretty freakin’ psyched about this news! On the jump, check out a current photo of how the park construction is proceeding on Pier 6, click through below.
The Brooklyn ferry service varies each weekend. It is usually just Saturday, but it didn’t run from Brooklyn at all 2 weekends ago. This weekend, it is running both days. You have to check the schedule for each upcoming weekend at
http://www.govisland.com/Visit_the_Island/directions.asp
This is awesome for all of us Cobble Hill residents. A nice short bike ride to Pier 6 and off we go. I just hope there’s no parking on Pier 6 or else you’ll have a nasty traffic jam there.
On the governor’s island website (address above)it states that the ferry goes regularly from the Fulton Ferry Landing (not Pier 6) on Saturday and Sundays; unfortunately no service Friday from Brooklyn. There’s a schedule for the Brooklyn ferry and the Manhattan one on the website.
Just to be clear – the “new service” is the Pier 6 water taxi dock. I’m guessing it won’t be open until next year along with the rest of Pier 6.
The existing service from Fulton Ferry Landing has been running this summer on random weekend days. (The official line is that it operates whenever there’s a special event on the island, but since there seems to be such an event every single weekend day, I find the schedule to be essentially random.)
Brooklyn Heights Blog summarized the open questions: whether the new service will replace or supplement the existing service, and whether the new one will be free as is the existing ferry.
Pier 6? So they’re going to run the Governor’s Island ferry from the end of the park farthest from public transportation options? Sounds like typically excellent Brooklyn planning! Maybe the One Brooklyn Bridge Park shuttle won’t mind giving us a lift from the subway…
Actually Brooklyn Based/Brooklyn Ron scooped this new service a few weeks ago: http://brooklynbased.net/everything/island-getaways/
So, we took his advice and went to Governors Island on the July 4th weekend by way of the free water taxi ferry from Fulton Ferry Landing. Once on the island, we didn’t wander very far from the pier in order to set down a spread for a picnic. But we had our choice of luscious spots on a grassy knoll overlooking NY harbor. It was delightful! People strolling, biking, sightseeing, picnicking and just celebrating the holiday all relaxed and cheerful. On what is typically a rather raucous weekend, you felt like you were in the City and not in the City all at once. I agree with Brenda — quiet enjoyment of this still-undiscovered green treasure ain’t likely to last much longer.
Thanks, Brenda!
You can absolutely bring your own bike onto the ferry, and renting one is $10/hr or so (they’re nice basic bikes in good shape, though, and helmets are available, too). There are a few food carts, a nice if high-priced homestyle Caribbean food stand on the south end (you wouldn’t know it was down there until you got thee), and the “beach” thing which we didn’t check out; there are Port-o-Sans around the island and real rest rooms in the base near the ferry along with a small gift shop and ranger station (and water fountains with signs that say “WATER NOT POTABLE”; at least they no longer work, last year they did, and my daughter drank from one greedily before we intervened and explained what “potable” meant. She survived, although the water apparently is pumped through the Battery Tunnel or something. So–Poland Spring, people.) Best bet: bring a picnic. The NY Times did a good job evoking the vibe and describing the services in their article last Sunday in Metro (or whatever the poor section is called now).
Yes, you can take a bike on the ferry.