Q&A
Potential expansion of ferry service along the Rockaway Peninsula
1:06:11
·
3 min
Council Member Brooks-Powers inquires about the possibility of expanding ferry service along the Rockaway Peninsula, which was previously deemed not possible due to the MTA South Channel Subway Bridge. James Wong from EDC explains the challenges faced, including vessel limitations and the need to manage finances carefully.
- EDC has not developed new vessel designs that could overcome the physical constraints.
- Previous pilot services using shuttle buses to extend accessibility had very low ridership.
- The journey time to Beach 108th Street is already about an hour, making further extensions less competitive.
Selvena Brooks-Powers
1:06:11
Thank you for that.
1:06:13
I'm gonna pivot now to legislation that's under consideration today, starting with the railways.
1:06:21
So the last time EDI he was before the council about the New York City ferry in 2022 and asked about the possibility of expanding ferry service along the Rockaway Peninsula and was told that it was not possible due to the MTA South Channel Subway Bridge.
1:06:38
I'm concerned because as more and more housing gets built in Rockaway is the people that live there need to need a way to get around, and the current transportation solution just doesn't cut it.
1:06:51
I know that very service is only one potential piece of the puzzle, but I wanna make sure that nothing gets overlooked.
1:06:59
So since 2022, have you all have the chance to give ferry expansion in the Rockway is a second look.
1:07:07
I will also include that in the last hearing, I have requested of EDC to look at alternative solutions considering the challenge with the the subway bridge.
James Wong
1:07:20
Thank you.
1:07:22
Thank you, Jared Brooks Powers.
1:07:24
As it relates to the rockaways, you've mentioned and and remains some of the challenges that we have faced in previous patients of this, which is that the fleet that we have, the 38 vessels and our sort of commitment since very forward to really focus on managing our finances such that we are not building new types of vessels and new types of facilities that in that period, we have not ended up with a new vessel design or anything like that.
1:07:55
We have found it to be challenging to go further east, as you mentioned, because of the subway bridge, which we have visited in years ago on a ferry to make sure that we really understood what that was like and have found those challenges to remain as of today.
Selvena Brooks-Powers
1:08:13
But has EDC taken any steps to really thoughtfully look at some alternative ways of bringing ferry service to the eastern end of the peninsula?
James Wong
1:08:24
So in previous iterations, we've actually done separate pilot services to try to extend shuttle buses because given the physical constraints that we had to go further east from where we are, We found we were looking for creative ways to try to make, you know, other places in the rockways for points for their east more accessible to to NYC Ferry.
1:08:48
We found, unfortunately, through those one pilot happened in the fall and winter, one happened in the summer.
1:08:54
And in both cases, we ended up with very low ridership despite a pretty extensive marketing campaign in an attempt to get people aware that they could use that as a service.
1:09:04
One of the challenges is that once you get to where we are already at Beach 108th Street, it's already about an hour's journey and going even further really starts to add to that and making ferry and a shuttle bus far less competitive than on some of the other admittedly limited options that there are.
Selvena Brooks-Powers
1:09:23
No.