LOWER MANHATTAN — New York Water Taxi says it has stopped using the network of Downtown street hawkers police have long called a source of chaos — after a man was beaten by aggressive boat tour ticket sellers peddling the company's tickets over the weekend.
The vendors, who are hired by ticket resale companies that buy tickets from Water Taxi and others, sell boat tours that sail around the Statue of Liberty. Police have been trying to curtail the dozens of hawkers near the Staten Island Ferry Terminal — many of whom have violent criminal records — saying they aggressively swarm tourists and lie in their sales pitch to get them to buy tickets, which are illegal tactics, the NYPD said.
After the latest incident — in which a 44-year-old man walking with his family was punched Saturday afternoon by a ticket seller previously charged with assault, robbery and rape — Water Taxi issued a statement to DNAinfo New York saying it has "suspended" its sales to the ticket resale companies "indefinitely."
But the company placed blame, in part, on the inadequacy of the city's newly enacted ticket licensing system.
Since August, street ticket sellers have been required to wear a city-issued license and can face fines of upwards of $1,000 for selling in unauthorized areas or making false statements to dupe tourists into buying tickets.
"New York Water Taxi takes matters of public safety very seriously, which is why we worked with the city council and other stakeholders on the legislation to regulate ticket sales by third parties," Water Taxi said in a statement.
"However, it has become clear that the new ticket seller licensing system is not adequate to prevent the infiltration of bad actors, and as such, NYWT has suspended its sales to third party ticket sellers indefinitely. We look forward to working with all stakeholders to strengthen the existing licensing system."
Law enforcement officials have urged ferry companies to not sell tickets to third-party vendor companies, saying that they are fueling a tumultuous trade that has been called a blight on the city's tourism.
In May, citywide ferry operator Hornblower, Inc. stopped selling its tickets through the sometimes violent street vendors — following a DNAinfo New York story that launched a Department of Investigation probe about the company's practices.
Police have said that they strongly warned Water Taxi to stop using the sellers, who had largely been pushing the ferry company's tickets after Hornblower ceased using the hawkers. There have been more than 30 arrests of the sellers since June, police said.
Water Taxi called the licensing law "a very admirable first step" but said that "the threshold to get a license is too low and the rules only have real teeth once violations have occurred, which is too late and is exactly what we are all trying to prevent."
Police, however, say they support the new licensing system — most of the sellers they have arrested, including the man last weekend, did not have licenses, which could be a result of their criminal records, the NYPD said.
While a conviction does not stop someone from getting a ticket-selling license, the Department of Consumer Affairs has the discretion not to issue a license on a case-by-case basis — depending the severity of the crime, and how long ago it was committed.
A police investigation of the Downtown ticket trade network identified 106 individual ticket sellers who regularly sell near The Battery — and said of those, 51 were on parole for a crime, and 19 were sex offenders.
Mark Iocco, the commanding officer Manhattan's 1st Precinct, who has long been working to squash the illegal sellers, said he is "happy to hear New York Water Taxi took this action."
Iocco had warned New York Water Taxi in August that "they would not be able to control third party vendors and their tickets will get into the hands of dangerous sellers with violent criminal histories," he said.
"We've made numerous arrests of street sellers with violent criminal histories who were carrying Water Taxi tickets — just in the last couple of weeks, a tourist and two of my officers were hurt by these sellers," he said. "The suspension of bulk ticket sales to third party vendors is great news for everyone who lives, works or visits Lower Manhattan."
Icocco added that the 1st Precinct will remain vigilant in policing The Battery, but urges other ferry companies to not sell their tickets to resale companies who use this network of sellers to "fraudulently and aggressively push tickets on tourists for a big profit."
