From the NY Times:All the while, developers welcomed the service — just a quick jaunt to Manhattan, with tickets $3 to $5.50 — as an amenity in marketing expensive condos on the Brooklyn and Queens waterfronts.
But eight months later, the operator of the ferry service, New York Water Taxi, says that it has not been able to come to an agreement with the city about continuing the subsidy, and that it might have to halt the East River commuter service for the third time in four years. Further, the city’s Economic Development Corporation said that because of the recession, plans to expand the ferry service on the East River have been delayed for at least a year, until spring 2011.
...the threat of another winter of canceled service has left many to wonder, and has added to fears that the longer ferries are seen as unreliable, the less New Yorkers will see them as a viable means of transportation.
It is unwelcome news for a small but loyal group of riders who have come to rely on the ferry service as an alternative to the busy subway lines that feed neighborhoods like Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
Many of the passengers live in luxury developments like Schaefer Landing. Privately, officials say they would feel more comfortable putting money into a service with more stops and a broader cross section of passengers.
To operate the East River route, New York Water Taxi needs about $900,000 in subsidies each year, city officials say, aid that becomes crucial during the winter, when ridership — which peaks in the summer at about 4,350 passengers per month — falls by about half.
4 more years of giving lots of taxpayer money toward things that only benefit developers and tower people. Hooray!
28 comments:
The subsidies for ferrys that serve too few passengers and stops are a luxury for those who bought luxury units on the waterfront and saw the ferry as an amenity. These folks do have access to subways which are only a few blocks walk and should consider themselfs lucky to have subways nearby. Others in 2 fare zones in Queens would love to be near a subway. Take the ferry subsidy and apply it towards more bus services.
Ah, more bitterness and jealousy from Crapper of young, educated, hard-working people with professional jobs. Good form Crapper!
You mean jealous of people who overpaid for luxury firetrap shitboxes as was featured here last week? They may have money but smarts they are lacking.
I myself am a young, hard-working educated person with a professional job. So I guess I am not jealous.
No, anonymous, people who overpaid for luxury firetrap shitboxes in part because of a ferry that probably won't be there in a month. Now that's stupid.
Ah, more bitterness and jealousy from Crapper of young, educated, hard-working people with professional jobs. Good form Crapper!
You mean make believe "film makers" and "artists" whose parents paid for and were the guarantors of the inflated rents. And of course the folks probably work on wall street so we the tax payer provided the substantial incomes the parents needed to support useless trustafarians.
ah "Wade" is back!
Services in Astoria suck, but the Vallone$ say the ferry service can handle the 50,000 people they want to stick on the Astoria waterfront.
When they call up the local civics trying to stongarm them into joining Junior'$ (or should we say Daddy'$) upzoning, why don't they mention that all the taxes will be used to lure in new tennants, and not the people living there - whose community's will continue to decay?
Like that five digit amount that the Bricklayer handed out to a local cluessless civic - its to lure in developers!
A bit like laying money on the ground around a bank to attack bank robbers.
Nice use for taxpayers money, don't you think?
Smart. Smart. Smart.
Instead of subsidizing ferry service ot Williamsburg and LIC, which are only one subway stop form Manhattan, the city sohuld focus on serving the far-flung waterfront communities.
Howard Beach, Far Rockaway, and College Point come to mind as good candidates for ferry service.
Not only would these communities actually use the ferry, but they would reduce the number of express buses sitting in traffic.
Howard Beach, Far Rockaway, and College Point come to mind as good candidates for ferry service.
Studies have been done repeatedly. Howard Beach, Far Rockaway, and College Point don't have the ridership to justify ferry service. And by ridership I mean an adequate density of people who would actually ride the ferry daily and could afford to pay the typically pricey ferry charges.
Ranting against bloomberg and development does not = hard work.
from beyond the grave:
if I were alive, I'd disapprove, but really, who cares...
Nah - There are already too many subsidies for buses that serve too few passengers and stops. These extra buses are a luxury for those who bought homes in far flung corners of the city and saw the buses as an amenity. These folks do have access to cars and the exisiting buses are only a few blocks walk. They should consider themselfs lucky. Take the ferry subsidy and increase it so that there can be more ferry services.
Queens Crapper said..
I myself am a young, hard-working educated person with a professional job. So I guess I am not jealous.
==============
would you be willing to fill us in on your age?
the subsidy would break out to be less than a dime per person, per year.
just sayin.
I've always imagined the crapper to be a white male in his 50, but certainly possibly older. Most likely employed in a blue collar job. Possibly union. Little to no savings to speak of despite many years of work. Married, but distant. The kids have moved away and don't visit as much as they should. Remembers the simpler times and looks back fondly on them. Life full of regrets and little time to set them all straight....
Queens Crapper said..
I myself am a young, hard-working educated person with a professional job. So I guess I am not jealous.
- - - - -
I'm just dying to know what "professional job" you have that allows you to moderate this sophomoric site all day long. "Hard working," alright...
If it were possible to get this running properly why could we not have both ferry and subway service?
After all, this was the main transportation link in New York City for the first three hundred years of our existence.
The presence of watercraft as a transportation alternative also provides additional ways to get people out of the city in the event of terrorist attacks or hurricanes.
I cannot help but think of the trapped roads in the New Orleans and Houston area after Katrina or how many thousands were evacuated out of lower Manhattan after 911 by boat.
Then too, Sully's heroics in landing a plane in the Hudson would have been for naught if the passengers weren't plucked from the water promptly.
What would be necessary to make this economically feasible?
I've always imagined the crapper to be a white male in his 50, but certainly possibly older. Most likely employed in a blue collar job. Possibly union. Little to no savings to speak of despite many years of work. Married, but distant. The kids have moved away and don't visit as much as they should. Remembers the simpler times and looks back fondly on them. Life full of regrets and little time to set them all straight....
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Seen too many Clint Eastwood movies, bub?
Left my first comment at 7:42am and here is my second comment at 7:01pm. So I guess I am not moderating the blog all day. In fact, I am not moderating comments that are less than 2 days old. So I am not sure what you are talking about and apparently neither do you. Also, you seem to have an awful lot of time to comment on this "sophomoric site" so it's kind of like the pot calling the kettle black.
And to answer the other curious person: I'm between 30 and 40, not in a blue collar job, not in a union, not married, have a significant other, no kids yet. Had enough money to buy a house at the peak of the boom, renovate it from top to bottom and still have plenty left to pay the bills.
As for there being no market for College Point, Far Rockaway and Howard Beach, thousands of those those folks already pay for express bus service, so they certainly could afford the ferry. Although we have a free ferry to Staten Island so therefore no one in Queens should be expected to pay for one.
Studies have been done repeatedly. Howard Beach, Far Rockaway, and College Point don't have the ridership to justify ferry service. And by ridership I mean an adequate density of people who would actually ride the ferry daily and could afford to pay the typically pricey ferry charges.
Who conducted these studies and when? What was the methodology? The College Point community has been expanding and I would consider it high density. Also, it is such a pain in the ass to travel in and out of the town that an alternate of this nature would probably be a welcome change. If the service is efficient and reliable, then why wouldn't people use it?
Awaiting the sequel:
Spawn of Zombie Wade
When is the release date, or will it be forever in the can?
Oh please Crapper. You probably live in Maspeth and are bitter at those in more financially successful jobs which is why you love to take gratuitous shots at them.
Amazing how I answered the questions asked of me but some loser out there still has to try to pin me down to fit their stereotype. If anyone is bitter, it's you, pal. If you feel the need to marginalize those that live in neighborhoods outside LIC, I suggest you find another place to vent, like LIQCity.
Crappy, if this really was a tower person and things in LIC were as great as he claims, then you'd think he wouldn't even feel the need to come here and bitch about what the great unwashed masses think about him and his ilk. This guy has issues.
We should not be subsidizing ferries when more efficient means of transportation exist and need more funding.
Crapper, you initiate insults against the young, hard-working, educated, financially successful people who live in certain neighborhoods, and when someone points out how this is a sign of your bitterness and feelings of inadequacy, you just insult them more. Good form.
I didn't initiate anything against anyone. I pointed out that subsiding expensive travel for a few people who find it beneath them to take the subway is wrong. Don't like it, tough shit.
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