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New Ferry Service Planned for Staten Island

By Nicholas Rizzi | December 20, 2013 9:55am
 The city has put out requests for a company to operate a private ferry service in Staten Island, which will supplement the Staten Island Ferry in the wake of several large projects coming to St. George.
The city has put out requests for a company to operate a private ferry service in Staten Island, which will supplement the Staten Island Ferry in the wake of several large projects coming to St. George.
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Flickr/InSapphoWeTrust

ST. GEORGE — A new ferry service to the North Shore of Staten Island is being planned by the city.

The Economic Development Corporation put out a request for expressions of interest (RFEI) for a private company to build and operate a paid ferry service in St. George, aimed at giving people better access to the waterfront as it gains new attractions like the New York Wheel and the Empire Outlets.

"We felt that there's really a scale of development that will happen on the waterfront that we think may be dense enough to warrant additional ferry service," said Tom McKnight, executive vice president for the EDC.

"There is a very significant service close by, but we felt like it's a big harbor and there's going to be people traveling from different origins and additional services might be warranted."

While the EDC has proposed a site for the ferry, McKnight said it will be up to the operator to decide the exact spot. The ferry would make additional stops around Staten Island and other parts of the city.

McKnight said the timeline for launching the new ferry service will depend on the RFEI response, but the EDC hopes to get it operating quickly.

"We're going to want to move aggressively forward with it," he said.

The deadline to submit proposals to the EDC is Jan. 31, 2014.