Of Course The Brand New NYC Ferry System Had Rush-Hour Delays

GREENPOINT, BROOKLYN — New York City's shiny new fleet of ferries took its maiden public voyage Monday morning, one line shuttling commuters from the Rockaways over to Wall Street and another crisscrossing the East River between North Brooklyn and lower Manhattan.

And less than three hours after the first boat left on the East River route Monday, the system experienced its first rush-hour delays, leaving passengers stranded at Greenpoint wondering how and when they were going to get to work.

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Veronica Ades, an OB-GYN who lives in Bed-Stuy and usually takes the G to the L to get into Manhattan, tried out the new service Monday.

She got to the station at about 9:50 a.m., just after a boat was scheduled to leave, and instead saw a terminal with about 30 people inside. One woman said she had been there since 9:20.

Ades and her fellow would-be passengers eventually boarded a boat around 10:30, but were immediately told to get back off, she said. Their boat wasn't working.

"I think the bigger problem here is that it's now a city initiative," she said. "There was the rollout. It's not a matter of the breakdown or delays, it’s that there was not backup plan and no communication."

Ades live-tweeted her headaches throughout the morning, describing a chaotic scene of crying babies, "irate" passengers and even some laughter.

"At approximately 9 a.m. there was a minor mechanical issue on one of our three East River Route ferries, a loose oil temperature sensor on one of the engines," EDC spokesman Anthony Hogrebe told Patch in an email. "As a precaution the boat was pulled from service and a replacement brought in.

"Because this happened at the tail end of the morning rush, and with ridership getting a boost from opening day, it resulted in some delays for passengers. Service was restored to schedule and is expected to operate on schedule throughout the afternoon and evening rush."

Ades eventually got to Manhattan around 11 a.m. and was late to work. "Oh yeah," she said. "I lost the morning."

And though her tweetstorm picked up some social steam Monday afternoon, she said she didn't hear from anybody from the city. "Just reporters," she said.

And not "the mayor, who, I’m sure I’m on his s--- list now."

As of 4:30 Monday afternoon, the ferry website said the route had delays of about 10 to 15 minutes. The good news: the Rockaway line is "on-time and on-schedule."

And, Ades said, the ferry employees worked well under pressure: