East River ferry service to debut in June

Crowded subways, snail-paced buses and bumper-to-bumper car traffic may seem like the only options for getting around New York City. But starting in June, regular ferry service along the East River will add sea breezes and water views to some commutes.

The three-year, $9-million pilot program is part of an ambitious, 10-year initiative announced earlier this year by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn to revitalize the city's waterfronts. As more residents, services and attractions migrate to river's edge, advocates say ferry travel could become transit's next frontier. But the project also could fail without enough riders, as happened with a city-subsidized Rockaways ferry to Manhattan. It shut down last March after only two years because of low ridership drove the cost too high.

"It wouldn't be happening now without the city subsidy ... it will be an interesting question three years from now whether or not the service can be sustained," said Paul Goodman, president and co-owner of BillyBey Ferry Co., which operates New York Waterways' boats. The city will pay BillyBey $3 million a year to run the service.

The more riders use the ferry, the more BillyBey -- and the city, which will share profits that reach a certain threshold -- stand to earn. Goodman said the ferry's success will hinge on growth in neighborhoods along the East River.

"If the city is successful in encouraging waterfront development, we will, over time, be successful in encouraging ferry travel," he said.

Rezonings, new construction and refurbishment of waterfront parks and docks have already created thriving communities in some once-lonely locations, including DUMBO in Brooklyn and parts of Long Island City in Queens. Other riverside neighborhoods, including the Greenpoint waterfront, are still evolving.

"We think that ferry service has a lot of potential to be a great alternative for people, especially in these neighborhoods in New York City where there has been big population growth in the past couple of years," said Julie Wood, a spokeswoman for the city Economic Development Corp.

The East River route was chosen after a lengthy study by the EDC and other groups. They analyzed likely ridership along various stops, considering neighborhoods as far afield as Coney Island and Co-op City. The report estimated the city's subsidy at $5.43 for the East River pilot program, assuming an annual ridership of 719,000. That's more than the city's subway subsidy of about 56 cents per ride, but less than the $12.20 average subsidy for express bus fare.

Ferry advocates say it will be money well spent.

"As our roads and rails get more congested, I think it's an absolute necessity that we start to use our blue highways. We don't have to lay rail, we don't have to build a road," said Roland Lewis, president and chief executive of the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance. "Compared to the amount that we put in to make our roads and rails function, water-based transit is actually an incredibly efficient and cost-effective way to go."

It's also practical: Ferries were operating after Sept. 11, the blackout of 2003 and the transit strike of 2005, making them an important emergency option, Lewis said. New York Waterway-BillyBey ferries operated every day during the brutal winter of 2010-2011 -- including Dec. 26, when a snowstorm paralyzed much of the region, a company spokesman said.

Ferries are already an important transportation option for some communities, including Staten Island and some New Jersey cities along the Hudson River. For ferries to become more integrated into the city's transit system, both Lewis and the ferry report said a transit agency such as the Port Authority or the MTA would have to take control of their operations, though working out the logistics of such a move is a long way off, Wood said.

He said it was also too early to consider other possible routes, such as one connecting Long Island to the five boroughs.