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City to Add USB Ports to Staten Island Ferries After Fights Over Outlets

By Nicholas Rizzi | July 21, 2016 2:39pm
 The city will add USB charging ports to the Staten Island Ferry and terminal after it cut the power to electrical outlets on boats because of fighting.
The city will add USB charging ports to the Staten Island Ferry and terminal after it cut the power to electrical outlets on boats because of fighting.
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DNAinfo/Nicholas Rizzi

ST. GEORGE — The city plans to add USB ports to the Staten Island Ferry terminal and boats after brawls over outlets to charge phones forced it to cut the electrical supply on ships.

The Department of Transportation said it would look into adding USB ports to charge cellphones inside the terminal then try to add them into the current fleet.

But the agency didn't answer questions about how replacing outlets with USB ports would do anything to stop brawling passengers, one of which recently punched a staff member who tried to break up a fight.

"We want to strike a balance by embracing ever-evolving phone charging technology and also addressing public safety," said Scott Gastel, a spokesman for the DOT.

The agency has not developed a timeline for the ports, but expects them to be installed in the terminal in the fall and the boats after that.

The charging ports will also be part of the three new Staten Island Ferry boats being built to replace aging ships in the fleet, the spokesman said.

The first one, named after Staff Sgt. Michael Ollis who died shielding a Polish soldier he didn't know from a suicide bomber in Afghanistan in 2013, is expected to hit the seas in 2019.

The other — still unnamed — boats will set sail in 2019 and 2020.

The DOT cut the power to the electrical outlets on the Staten Island Ferry boats after several fights broke out between passengers trying to charge their phones — including one where a worker was punched.

The agency previously told DNAinfo New York the decision to cut the power was made with the NYPD for public safety reasons and it also received several complaints about the wires connecting to them being a trip hazard.