NEW YORK CITY — Upper East Siders will soon get access to East River Ferry Service, but they won't be able to use it to get to Queens or Roosevelt Island — a gap that residents are calling on the city to fill.
The East River Ferry service is set to roll out on the Upper East Side in spring of 2018, with a line that starts in The Bronx and stops at East 90th and East 62nd streets before ending at Wall Street, according to a presentation by the Economic Development Corporation to Community Board 8.
But residents are scratching their heads over why the agency hadn't included a stop at 34th Street, where riders could transfer to the ferry's Astoria line, which makes stops at Roosevelt Island and Long Island City, according to Scott Falk, a co-chair of Community Board 8's transportation committee.
The concern was raised during a committee meeting on Wednesday, which was attended by representatives of the EDC, Falk said.
The plan for the new line, called the Soundview Ferry, will move forward as it is, the EDC reps told community members while noting that changes to expand service could be made later on, according to Falk.
The Upper East Side stops will consist of floating barges with ticketing machines, according to the EDC. It would take roughly 43 minutes to take a full trip on the line from Soundview in The Bronx to Wall Street, the agency added.
Once the citywide ferry service is completed in 2018, the entire network is expected to provide 4.6 million trips per year, the EDC says.
