ST. GEORGE — The three new planned Staten Island Ferry boats got a $328 million boost from the city Tuesday.
Mayor Bill de Blasio allocated the funds to the Department of Transportation for the three boats in the city's $82.6 billion fiscal year 2017 budget.
The new ferries include the Staff Sgt. Michael Ollis boat, named after the Staten Island soldier who died shielding a Polish fighter he didn't know from a suicide bomber in Afghanistan, which is expected to set sail in 2019.
The 4,300 passenger boat will be designed in the Kennedy class of ferries and is part of a push started in 2014 to replace the three oldest boats in the fleet.
Aside from the Ollis boat, the second new ferry is expected to hit the waters in 2019 and the third in early 2020, the city previously said. The names have yet to be picked for them, but several people have started pushes to snag them as memorials for notable Staten Islanders.
The new boats will replace the Andrew J. Barberi, Samuel I. Newhouse and the John F. Kennedy ferries.
They're currently in the design phase and will be made to handle extreme weather conditions, the city previously said. They'll have features of past ferry boats — including outdoor promenades — but modern engines and technology.
Last year, the city surveyed riders on three new potential seating options for the boats and the DOT plans to use the responses to refine the seats designs.
