East River Ferry Service in Jeopardy—Again
In what can’t be taken as anything but a blow to the already challenging marketing campaigns of the handful of high-end waterfront developments in Brooklyn, New York Water Taxi announced that it might have to stop its East River commuter service for the third time in four years after being unable to come to an…
In what can’t be taken as anything but a blow to the already challenging marketing campaigns of the handful of high-end waterfront developments in Brooklyn, New York Water Taxi announced that it might have to stop its East River commuter service for the third time in four years after being unable to come to an agreement with the city; to make matters worse, EDC announced that plans to create more routes had been tabled by the recession. The news will definitely create problems for those already living on the waterfront. Take Robert Thorne, who lives at Schaefer Landing in South Williamsburg with his family: [The ferry] saves us 35, 40 minutes each way, he said. That’s more time with our daughter. A spokesperson for City Council Speaker Christine Quinn said that she’s confident we will be able to preserve and expand existing service. We shall see.
East River Commuter Ferry Service Could Be Halted, Again [NY Times]
Photo by Tom Hoboken
Someone should have advised Whitman that due to budget cuts ferry service would end in 2009 so that he could include a line or two in his poem about that.
http://www.poetsgraves.co.uk/Classic%20Poems/Whitman/crossing_brooklyn_ferry.htm
Others will enter the gates of the ferry and cross from shore to shore,
Others will watch the run of the flood-tide,
Others will see the shipping of Manhattan north and west, and the heights of Brooklyn to the south and east,
Others will see the islands large and small ;
Fifty years hence, others will see them as they cross, the sun half an hour high,
A hundred years hence, or ever so many hundred years hence, others will see them,
Will enjoy the sunset, the pouring-in of the flood-tide, the falling-back to the sea of the ebb-tide.
i think this is a real problem that the city needs to address. bigger boats and subsidizing service is needed to help brooklyn grow and to provide alternatives to crowded arteries. you have so many changes all along the waterfront areas, and not just WB. thinking from bay ridge, sunset park, dumbo, etc… if they made it really efficient and reliable, then more would use, then more would pay, and then it could make a profit eventually.
FYI -schaeffer landing is not near the L train (it’s quite far south), but walking distance to the JMZ. not really understanding their 35-40 minute savings time with the water taxi. the JMZ either takes you downtown directly or connects to the 6, N,R,W or F for uptown. 3 trains, come one right after another in the mornings. hard to believe the entire trip would be 35 or 40 minutes.
“i’d just walk to the next one, and get on with my life.”
Of course you would rob. We have all seen what a stoic you are.
“the transit worker union is doing everything in its power to limit the ferries or other forms of private public transit so that when they strike the city can be brought more fully to its knees.”
They don’t seem to be having much success squelching the dollar vans, which seem able to offer privatized public transportation that doesn’t require city subsidy.
But I would certainly love to know the per-rider subsidy of the water taxi. Any why on earth is the Staten Island ferry free, other than a desire to pander to SI voters?
I really don’t see that at all, 11217. Ferries landings are not in places many people can access easily. NYC, even with lots of waterfront, does not really use it. Difficult to reach, inconvenient…There is no way to get a ferry landing at Lincoln Center, Times Square, or other important locations in this city. Nice tourist ride but not practical in real world here. I think it is money wasted that could be better spent.
quote:
If the [insert your local subway stop here] station were in danger of being shut down, how many of you would keep playing your little violins…
i’d just walk to the next one, and get on with my life. not complain on the internet that it’s stealing precious quality time away from chirruns.
*rob*
Lot of ax grinding going on here…
If the [insert your local subway stop here] station were in danger of being shut down, how many of you would keep playing your little violins…
The loss of ferry service would suck. Ferries are good ways to get around in a city like New York. I was amazed to see how many ferries are in operation in Istanbul. All over the waterways, ferries going back and forth. Why is NYC so uncivilized?
Better, Rob?
what does that have to do with this thread 11217? you do that non stop! bringing up your beefs with other posters into random threads. no one cares! this thread is about entitled waterfront condo dwellers who because of this loss of ferry service may now be forced to send their CF’s to public school. oh the horror!
*rob*