NYC Ferry's Hell's Kitchen To Staten Island Route Debuts

HELL’S KITCHEN, NY — Staten Island commuters making their way to Manhattan got their first glimpse of what the NYC Ferry’s trek along the Hudson River from Hell’s Kitchen when the new St. George route launched on Monday morning.

The NYC Ferry’s newest route was announced earlier this year, when ferry officials announced the new line, which runs between Pier 79 at West 39th Street to St. George on the northern tip of Long Island. The route includes a stop at Battery Park City and will take only 35 minutes, officials said. The cost of the ride is $2.75, which is the same as the fare on New York’s subway system.

Mayor Bill de Blasio called Monday’s launch historic and said the St. George’s route will make life “so much better, so much easier” for Staten Island commuters.

“Every place that NYC Ferry has gone we've heard the same thing. It changes people's lives, makes things faster, easier,” de Blasio said. “It's comfortable. It's convenient. You're on the water.”

The St. George’s line is scheduled to run every half-hour during rush hour and about every 45 minutes during off-peak hours. Organizers boasted that the St. George route will help commuters from Staten Island to Midtown save about 20 minutes each way, compared to the existing MTA Express Bus or the Staten Island Ferry and subway.

Ferry tickets are available from machines at each landing or on the NYC Ferry smartphone app. The system is operated by the private company Hornblower, whose contract with the city has attracted scrutiny for its high costs.

During Monday’s launch ceremony, de Blasio said that the expansion of the NYC Ferry service to Staten Island is a sign that the city is coming back from the coronavirus pandemic that affected so many parts of everyday life for the past 18 months.

“And here's an example – still fighting off this pandemic and yet we're opening new things,” the mayor said Monday. “We're starting things, we're making big things happen. That's what New York City is about. That's what Staten Island is about. So, everyone, we're going to have a recovery in the city. It's going to be a recovery for all of us. It's going to be a recovery for all five boroughs. And our job every day is to make life better in all five boroughs.”

Staten Island Borough President James Oddo called the launch a “blow for equity and fairness” and said that New York City’s ferry system truly became city-wide. According to projections made prior to the start of the pandemic, the St. George’s route was expected to attract 1.9 million rides, Oddo said. That ridership would make the route the second most populated route in the NYC Ferry system.

Oddo praised de Blasio for his work in making the route a reality after construction on the St. George’s ferry landing began last December. After NYC Ferry launched in 2017, de Blasio said service would expand in 2021 to include service to Staten Island and Coney Island. Monday’s launch represents NYC Ferry’s first midtown stop. Previous to Monday, the ferry service included five routes along the East River, South Brooklyn and the Rockaways.

“This is the beginning of a really robust, fast ferry system on Staten Island. You are helping the lives of Staten Islanders, you are returning time to them,” Oddo said at Monday’s launch ceremony. “And I very much appreciate it.”