Fire Island Ferries: 1 AM Ferry Was Full Of 'Undesirables With No Morals'

Fire Island Ferries chose to cancel the 1 a.m. ferry from Ocean Beach due to "undesirables with no morals" riding the ferry, according to a statement posted by an employee on the company's Facebook page.

On Wednesday, Ocean Beach Mayor James Mallott and Fire Island Fire Ferries President Tim Mooney announced that the 1 a.m. ferry leaving Ocean Beach has been discontinued effective immediately. The 1 a.m. ferry from Ocean Bay Park will also stop running.

The 1 a.m. ferry had been running on Saturday nights during holiday weekends since the early 1990s. The ferry started at the request of the Village of Ocean Beach in order to ease the amount of people left loitering the streets after hours in the area.

Eventually, the 1 a.m. ferry began running every Saturday during the summer.

According to the statement from Fire Island Ferries, the 1 a.m. crowd was previously a "manageable crowd," however as time went on the clientele began changing.

"We needed to provide security on our ferries, on our docks, increase wages for the crews who ran these trips, and ask for additional support from the local police departments," the statement reads. "The 1am ferry has now morphed into a crowd of undesirables with no morals and borderline unmanageable without instance."

Earlier this week, following Memorial Day weekend, Fire Island Ferries made a unanimous decision to discontinue the ferry and met with the Village of Ocean Beach mayor, chief of police and village administrator the discuss the idea.

"This discussion was a very open and well supported on both the ferry company side and the village side when we presented the option to discontinue the 1am ferry," the statement reads. "Fire Island Ferries has never and never will place the safety of all those who are employed with us nor those who ride with us as passengers in jeopardy."