GOVERNORS ISLAND — Governors Island will eventually get a stop on a Citywide Ferry route — but the question is when.
Next year will see the start of the first three lines on the Citywide Ferry Service, including the South Brooklyn route with stops in Bay Ridge, Red Hook's Atlantic Basin, Pier 6 and 1 in Brooklyn Bridge Park, Pier 11 at Wall Street and possibly Governors Island.
"The City does plan to add a ferry stop at Governors Island in the future," Economic Development Corporation spokeswoman Stephanie Baez said in an email to DNAinfo on Friday.
The Economic Development Corporation is talking to the Governors Island Trust and ferry operator Hornblower Inc. "to determine when it makes sense to have Citywide Ferry Service begin operating" to Governors Island, Baez said.
One factor being considered in those talks is whether Governors Island will be turned into a year-round amenity for the public. The change would be crucial to bringing full-time ferry service to the island, the EDC said.
The discussions also factor in the existing ferry service and how the proposed citywide service would run to the Island, such as on weekends or seasonally, the EDC said.
The city has made no secret of its efforts to turn Governors Island into a destination that would be publicly open throughout the year.
Currently the island is only open to the public from May to September. It's also home to the Urban Assembly New York Harbor School, and the Billion Oyster Project when non-public off-season access is available only from a ferry building in Lower Manhattan.
Mayor Bill de Blasio has discussed plans for an "Innovation Cluster" on the Island and a campaign was launched to seek feedback from New Yorkers on how to transform Governors Island into a year-round location for work or recreation.
“We have the ability to do it, it’s just a question of when it makes the most sense,” EDC president Maria Torres-Springer told the Brooklyn Paper, referring to the Governors Island ferry route.
Credit: EDC
Brooklyn's Community Board 6, which covers Red Hook, has previously expressed support for the link to Governors Island, which is located just across the Buttermilk Channel from the neighborhood but unreachable — except by kayak, or a seasonal ferry from Brooklyn Bridge Park or Manhattan.
READ ALSO:
► Atlantic Basin Selected as Red Hook's Citywide Ferry Dock Location
► Citywide Ferry Operator Hornblower Has 'Pathetic' Labor Record, Union Says
► Hornblower Stops Aggressive Ticket Sales After DNAinfo Sparks City Probe
