Economic Development Corporation Continues To Deny Bay Ridge Ferry, Calls For Expanded Ferry Transportation
December 12th, 2008 by Ethan
NYCEDC Says ‘No Ferries’ To Underserved Bay Ridge
Ben Muessig at The Brooklyn Paper brings us news that the NYCEDC has once again chosen to deny the underserved areas of NYC’s transportation system, like Bay Ridge.
The irony is that everyone is in favor of expanded ferry service. The entire Bay Ridge community — led by Ridgite Heather McCown 
and the Sunset Ridge Waterfront Alliance — has been asking for it. The Mayor wants it. Speaker Quinn wants it. Area pols want it — Councilmembers Gentile and Yassky released half a million dollars for it almost five years ago.
Worst of all, the NYCEDC wants it!
Maritime/Transportation Policy is responsible for creating and implementing policies concerning the private ferry services in New York City and coordinates with NYCDOT, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and private ferry companies to develop new and expanded ferry service.
The same EDC that spent $60 million for the Battery Maritime Building and $158 million for the Whitehall Ferry Terminal — both of which are in Manhattan, incidentally — and over $1 million in subsidies for service to the Brooklyn Army Terminal, still refuses to float the ferries to Bay Ridge.
The EDC said that it was more “economical” to buy a ferry launch for $500,000 and use it to replace the one at BAT that needed work. Yet service at BAT was in full effect after the N.Y. Water Taxi received their million dollar subsidy as recently as May 2008. How much work did the launch need, and why was replacing it more important than expanding the ferry to a totally un-served location?
While those are questions that should be answered by the EDC, the rejection of the ferry launch for Bay Ridge amounts to another in a long line of rejections for the 69th Street Pier — a place that historically had ferry service going back to the 1800s.
But more importantly, Bay Ridge needs alternative transportation options. A large amount of the people who live there are workers whose daily commute into Manhattan would take an hour or more by bus or subway. Many of them drive to, and from, Manhattan every day.
The map on the left clearly shows two major hotspots where the proportion of drivers is at the maximum level (the white spots encircled by a red oval). One hotspot is located in Fort Hamilton and the other (towards the north) is Bay Ridge. These are the two neighborhoods that would be most directly served by a ferry line that stopped at Brooklyn Army Terminal, 69th Street Pier, and again further along the South Brooklyn waterfront. The ferry would get these vehicular commuters to lower Manhattan in 20 minutes, while taking their cars off the road.
If an integral part of EDC’s mission is to increase transportation efficiency in NYC, they need to address this situation as soon as possible. The EDC and their planning department have the critically important task of making our city more livable and sustainable by solving our transportation nightmare. By extending the ferry line further south, you are taking an easy step towards improving the overall system. Add in a bunch of BRT (bus rapid transit) and you’d really be talking.
Please contact these key people at the EDC and remind them that addressing the transportation needs of Bay Ridge and South Brooklyn will be good for the economic development of the city.
Ferries Contacts @ NYCEDC:
Michael Taylor
Senior Project Manager
212-618-5740
mtaylor@nycedc.comVenetia Lannon
SVP, Maritime
vlannon@nycedc.com
(212) 312-4229Alyssa Cobb
SVP, Development
akonon@nycedc.com
(212) 312-3890Tom McKnight
SVP, Development
tmcknight@nycedc.com
(212) 312-3747
The basic math:
Less cars = Less traffic = Better economy + better health + better environment
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February 16th, 2009 at 8:07 pm
[...] this latest posting from GreenBrooklyn on the status on ferry service for 69th Street Pier. Click here. Tools: Email This Permanent link to this story: Link Tags: 69th Street Pier, Bay Ridge, Ferry, [...]