An NYC Ferry departs from St. George in Staten Island.
File Photograph by Kevin Duggan
For years, residents in Canarsie, Brooklyn have lobbied their elected officers and Metropolis Corridor to carry NYC Ferry to their neighborhood, which many think about a transportation desert.
Situated within the southeastern space of the borough, Canarsie has greater than 90,000 residents. Their solely transportation hyperlink to the town, apart from by automobile, is the L line, which terminates at Rockaway Parkway.
NYC Ferry is way from an ideal resolution for Canarsie’s and the town’s public transit issues. It’s closely sponsored by taxpayers, will get a fraction of the ridership the subway sees (NYC Ferry achieved a 7-day file of greater than 224,000 passengers in April), connects the waterfronts quite than inside sections of the town, and common service is commonly on the mercy of Mom Nature.
But Canarsie residents will fortunately take it. That they had greater than 6,000 signatures in favor of bringing the NYC Ferry to their group, which they despatched to Metropolis Corridor in Could. The Adams administration, nevertheless, stated no new routes had been within the offing.
This week, NYC Ferry rolled out a proposed altered service map that includes new stops alongside the best way. One proposed route is making a hyperlink between Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, and Staten Island — two communities linked collectively solely by the vehicle-only Verrazzano Narrows Bridge. With out query, a Bay Ridge-Staten Island hyperlink is lengthy overdue, championed by native elected officers and advocates, and ought to be included within the remaining revamped NYC Ferry map.
As for Canarsie, nevertheless, NYC Ferry appears to have stranded them as soon as once more. The proposed new map doesn’t embody a cease in Canarsie, depriving a group starved for fast public transit choices an opportunity to maneuver ahead.
If NYC Ferry is to succeed in its fullest potential and ship the most important bang for its buck, it should present service the place it’s wished and wanted. That features Canarsie and different waterfront neighborhoods in want of higher public transit (for instance, the South Bronx and Bayside, Queens).
Canarsie might not be as prosperous a group as others served by NYC Ferry routes, however it’s no much less deserving of service. Residents on this neighborhood shouldn’t need to endure lengthy commutes on the overcrowded L line as their solely method to get to and from Manhattan and northern Brooklyn and not using a automobile.
A cease in Canarsie on this line can doubtlessly add 1000’s of latest every day commuters to NYC Ferry, giving a much-needed boon to the closely sponsored system.
The very least NYC Ferry can do is launch a utilization evaluation for a possible Canarsie ferry, and talk with the neighborhood whether or not a ferry is viable resolution to their transportation issues. If the evaluation finds {that a} ferry can work for the neighborhood, NYC Ferry shouldn’t hesitate to make it a actuality.
