Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

LES Residents Looking Forward to New Neighborhood Ferry Stop

By Lisha Arino | February 3, 2015 6:42pm
 New ferry routes include the Lower East Side, Astoria, Rockaway Beach, southern Brooklyn and Soundview in the Bronx.
New ferry routes include the Lower East Side, Astoria, Rockaway Beach, southern Brooklyn and Soundview in the Bronx.
View Full Caption
Flickr/Dan Nguyen @ New York City

LOWER EAST SIDE — Mayor Bill de Blasio’s announcement of expanded ferry service across the five boroughs delighted some Lower East Side residents, who said the new routes would give the neighborhood more transit options and attract visitors.

“I think it’s fantastic,” said Jim Keenan, an East River Co-ops resident who started a petition to bring ferry service to the neighborhood with neighbor Joseph Hanania in 2013. “I’m really, incredibly pleased by it.”

During his State of the City address Tuesday, de Blasio said the new ferry routes would include the Lower East Side, Astoria, Rockaway Beach, southern Brooklyn and Soundview in the Bronx.

In the Lower East Side, the ferry would land at Grand Street, connecting the neighborhood with stops at East 34th Street, East 23rd Street, Pier 11/Wall Street and Long Island City. Service is expected to start in 2018, although other routes will start a year earlier, according to a press release. The ferry would cost the same as a subway ride, the mayor said.

Residents said the new service would augment the few subway and bus lines that stop through the neighborhood give them another way to get around the city.

“You walk out the door, you go over the FDR and go on the ferry to get work or go shopping or whatever — it doesn’t get better than that,” Keenan said.

Ferry service would also make it easier for visitors to come to the neighborhood and spend money at local businesses, residents said.

“I think it’s going to be going to be great because there’s a lot of people who don’t come to this area because of how far it is,” said 27-year-old Lisette Pizarro, who lives on Henry Street.

Elected officials, who asked the city to expand ferry service last fall, also said they were pleased with the mayor’s announcement.

"I applaud Mayor de Blasio's proposal to expand ferry service citywide, including stops at Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn and Grand Street on the Lower East Side, as I urged with colleagues in October,” said State Senator Daniel Squadron in a statement.

“For lots of New Yorkers who live in fast growing waterfront communities without enough transit options, new service is very — or ferry! — good news.”