New Staten Island Ferry Seats Chosen by Nearly 2,000 Riders

ST. GEORGE — The results are in and Staten Island Ferry riders chose Seat "A" for their new boats.

The Department of Transportation launched a survey in September to gather opinions on three proposed seat styles for the ferries currently being designed.

Seat "A," a faux wood bench, got 44% of votes and narrowly beat out Seat "B," which got 43% of the vote, according to a spokesman for the DOT.

Riders said they chose Seat "A" because of its back support and angle of the seat. The orange colored Seat "C" lost out with only 12% of the vote, the DOT said.

Last year, the city secured more than $190 million in federal funds to buy two new boats along with making flood-proof upgrades to the ferry's facilities and landings.

The new boats will replace the aging 33-year-old Andrew J. Barberi and Samuel I. Newhouse boats along with the nearly 50-year-old John F. Kennedy.

The Elliott Bay Design Group, which is working on the new ships, told the Staten Island Advance they are being modeled after the John F. Kennedy boat — a favorite among commuters.

The three seat choices which the DOT installed in the Whitehall terminal for passengers to try out were built according to preliminary designs and the final ones will have differences, the DOT said.

The agency will use the survey responses to further refine the seat's design using what riders told them they did and didn't like about the proposed designs, the spokesman said.

The design phase for the 4,500-seat boats is expected to finish in 2019, the DOT said.