Ferry From South Amboy To Manhattan Coming, South Amboy Says

SOUTH AMBOY, NJ — Plans are in the works to soon start a passenger ferry from South Amboy to Lower Manhattan.

That's what South Amboy business administrator Glenn Skarzynski told NJ 101.5 this week, saying that the project has already been funded with $10 million in federal grant money from the New Jersey Department of Transportation. The city of South Amboy will pay the rest, about $1.5 million, and there may be a need for supplemental funding, he said.

"You should be able to come to our fair city and enjoy a lovely ride on the ferry to Manhattan somewhere in 2020," Skarzynski told 101.5.

He said the engineering will be done by mid-summer 2019 and hopes construction will start soon after. The ferry terminal would be built at the Radford Ferry Overpass and it would stop at Wall Street and Midtown, he said. The trip from South Amboy to Lower Manhattan is about 40 minutes by boat.

He also said the town will build 800 parking spaces at the Radford Ferry Overpass, and if the ferry is popular and more spaces are needed, South Amboy will expand the parking lot. Prices have not been determined, but tickets would be about $40 round-trip for a day trip, he said; the ferry would of course also offer monthly passes.

There actually used to be a ferry to Manhattan from South Amboy: In the wake of Sept. 11, when train and bus service was dismantled throughout the region, the federal government approached South Amboy and ran to temporary ferry service from the town. That last for about 18 months and was then dismantled. Skarzynski wants to bring it back.

Pictured: Statue of Liberty cruises in New York, 2017. Maria Cormack-Pitts/Patch