NYC Ferry

Early ferries Until the 19th century, when the first fixed crossings were put in place across the city's waterways, there were many ferries traversing the area. New York's first ferries date to when the city was a Dutch colony named New Amsterdam, which comprised modern-day Lower Manhattan. A ferry across the East River, between New Amsterdam and modern-day Brooklyn, was created in 1642 by Cornelius Dircksen, who was reportedly "the earliest ferryman of whom the records speak." By 1654, New Amsterdam's government passed ordinances to regulate East River ferries. The first ferry to New Jersey was founded in 1661, traveling across the Hudson River from Manhattan to Communipaw (now part of Jersey City). The number of ferries grew, and by 1904, there were 147 ferry services operating in New York City waters. The South Ferry Company, founded in 1836, merged with the Fulton Ferry Company three years later, and the combined companies underwent a series of acquisitions, eventually owning many of the East River ferries. However, by 1918, the construction of bridges and New York City Subway tunnels across the East River resulted in some companies, such as the New York and East River Ferry Company between Yorkville and Astoria, operating at a loss. Even with city ownership, many of the East River ferries were superseded by bridges, road tunnels, and subway tunnels by the mid-20th century. The Yorkville–Astoria ferry, for instance, stopped in 1936 after being replaced by the Triborough Bridge. On the other side of Manhattan, there were a myriad of Hudson River ferries at one point, with boat routes running from New Jersey to twenty passenger docks in Manhattan. However, the construction of the Holland Tunnel, Lincoln Tunnel, Hudson & Manhattan Railroad, Pennsylvania Railroad and George Washington Bridge between Manhattan and New Jersey, as well as the growth of car ownership in the United States, meant that these ferries were no longer needed by the mid-20th century. As a result, in 1967, the last cross-Hudson ferry (between Hoboken and Battery Park City) ceased operations. The Richmond Turnpike Company started a steamboat service from Manhattan to Staten Island in 1817. Cornelius Vanderbilt bought the company in 1838, and it was sold to the Staten Island Railroad Company in 1864. The Staten Island Ferry was then sold to the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in 1884, and the City of New York assumed control of the ferry in 1905. The study identified potential ferry routes to western Manhattan and Riverdale; eastern Manhattan, the South Bronx, and Co-op City; the northern Brooklyn and Queens shorelines; the South Shore of Staten Island; and southwestern Brooklyn, southern Brooklyn, and the Rockaways. It was instantly popular, with two to six times the number of passengers that the city predicted would ride the ferries. From June to November 2011, the ferry accommodated 2,862 riders on an average weekday, as opposed to a projection of 1,488 riders, and it had 4,500 riders on an average weekend, six times the city's projected ridership; in total, the ferry saw 350,000 riders in that period, over 250% of the initial ridership forecast of 134,000 riders. In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy on October 29, 2012, massive infrastructural damage to the IND Rockaway Line () south of the Howard Beach–JFK Airport station severed all direct subway connections between the Rockaways, Broad Channel, and the Queens mainland for seven months. Ferry operator SeaStreak began running a city-subsidized ferry service between a makeshift ferry slip at Beach 108th Street and Beach Channel Drive in Rockaway Park, Queens, and Pier 11/Wall Street, then continuing on to the East 34th Street Ferry Landing. A stop at Brooklyn Army Terminal was added in August 2013 because of the reconstruction of the Montague Street Tunnel, which temporarily suspended R train service through the tunnel. The ferry proved to be popular and its license was extended several times, as city officials evaluated the ridership numbers to determine whether to establish the service on a permanent basis. Between its inception and December 2013, the service had carried close to 200,000 riders. The NYCEDC study was updated in 2013, following the introduction of the SeaStreak Rockaway ferry. The study, called "CFS2013", showed the effect of ferry services in New York City, citing the success of the East River ferry. Specifically, ferry service raised the values of real estate within of ferry landings by an average of 1.2%; spurred new construction near ferry stops; added more transport options; and helped relieve crowding on other parts of New York City's transport network. The administration of Mayor Bill de Blasio stated that there was not enough ridership to justify the cost of operation. Despite last-minute advocacy, ferry service ended on October 31, 2014, and supporters continued to try to restore ferry service. he mayor's office eventually agreed to restart the Rockaway ferry when the NYC Ferry system opened. A ferry line from Staten Island to Midtown Manhattan was proposed in the early 1990s; this new ferry would travel at top speeds of . New York Fast Ferry was ultimately selected to run a ferry from St. George on Staten Island to East 34th Street in Midtown Manhattan; it opened in January 1997 and saw about 1,650 commuters a day. The Midtown ferry proved successful until the city made the New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT)'s Staten Island Ferry fare-free in mid-1997. As a result, daily ridership on the $5-per-ticket Midtown ferry decreased to 400 passengers, and New York Fast Ferry was unable to make a profit on the route. New York Fast Ferry went out of business at the end of 1997, at which point NY Waterway took over the route. NY Waterway also failed to break even on the Midtown route, and it was eliminated on July 31, 1998. After Oddo's election as borough president, he pushed New York City mayor Bill de Blasio to consider a Staten Island fast ferry as part of what would become NYC Ferry. At the time, the system's only proposed ferry stop on Staten Island was at Stapleton, but funding for the Stapleton route was later withdrawn. When NYC Ferry eventually opened in 2017 (see ), politicians and Staten Island residents again advocated bringing more ferry service to Staten Island, including adding one ferry each to Manhattan and Brooklyn, a stop on the South Shore, and extra stops on the NYCDOT's Staten Island Ferry line. In April 2017, Oddo announced a tentative agreement with NY Waterway to possibly implement a fast route from St. George to Midtown Manhattan in 2018. The ferry would go to West Midtown Ferry Terminal, as opposed to East 34th Street, and would not have received any per-passenger subsidies from the city. ==Development==

Proposal and planning NYC Ferry, first proposed by the NYCEDC as the "Citywide Ferry Service," was announced by de Blasio's administration in 2015 as part of a proposed citywide ferry system that would reach through the five boroughs, though a Staten Island terminal had not been finalized. Routes were to go to Astoria, Bay Ridge, the Rockaways, the Lower East Side, Soundview, South Brooklyn, and Brooklyn Navy Yard. in Long Island City A fare for one trip was set at $2.75, the same as on other modes of transportation in New York City. Free transfers would be offered only to other NYC Ferry lines, meaning that riders would pay another fare if they transferred to one of the city's other mass-transit systems. Prior to the implementation of NYC Ferry, other ferry lines in the city had weekday and weekend fares of $4 and $6, respectively. The relatively low fare of NYC Ferry was made in contrast to some other major cities like San Francisco and Sydney, where ferry fares are higher than the fares of other modes of mass transit in these cities. The city said that the low ferry fares were intended to make the ferries affordable, while de Blasio stated that it is intended to promote "transit equity". NYC Ferry was to cost $325 million After having accepted the contract, Hornblower Cruises was selected as the ferry's operator on March 16, 2016. Some of the ferry's six proposed routes were originally supposed to be operational in June 2017, There would be at least 18 boats needed for rush-hour operation. The creation of the ferry system was supposed to relieve some of the load of the city's transportation system, which is largely "the footprint of an early-19th-century transit map" according to Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen, and cannot accommodate the city's fast population growth. Even though this amounted to only about 12,500 daily riders (compared to the New York City Subway's 5 million riders each weekday), one fellow at the Manhattan Institute said that "every person you're not cramming on to the trains helps". The city requested the draft of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on August 12, 2015, which was completed by April 18, 2016. After public comment, the final EIS was approved on July 28, 2016. The total combined cost of the boats is more than $70 million. In addition, the city was building 13 ferry landings at a cost of $85 million, as well as a boat depot. In September 2016, construction on 19 ferries began at two shipyards in Bayou La Batre, Alabama, and Jeanerette, Louisiana, The contract with the two shipyards is unusual because shipbuilding contracts are usually with only one company. However, NYC Ferry executives had purposely chosen these two companies because of their expertise and because of the unlikeliness that both shipyards would be destroyed by hurricanes. In December 2016, Hornblower purchased the rights to operate the East River route for $21 million. The route had been operated by Billybey Ferries, which had a contract to operate the line under the NY Waterway banner. As part of the sale, Hornblower paid $6 million for four older boats already in use on the East River ferry. and it arrived in New York on April 2, 2017. On April 6, Mayor de Blasio announced that the service had been rebranded from Citywide Ferry to NYC Ferry, and that the start of service had been moved up a month from the original schedule, with the East River, South Brooklyn, and Rockaway routes to begin on May 1, a month ahead of schedule. Under the new schedule, the South Brooklyn route began on June 1 and the Astoria route began on August 29, while the Lower East Side and Soundview routes were still to begin in 2018. == Operational history ==

Opening and high ridership The first two routes were opened on May 1, 2017. On its first day of service, NYC Ferry saw more than 6,400 riders; of these, 1,828 rode the Rockaway ferry while the rest rode the East River Ferry. In its first week, the ferry transported 49,000 riders, of which 38,000 used the East River Ferry while the remaining 11,000 used the Rockaway route. Although the service had a 95% on-time rate during the first week, NYC Ferry chartered a boat from NY Waterway due to delays on some routes. NYC Ferry also continued to temporarily use some of the older East River Ferry boats on that route. Described by The New York Times as the service's "biggest test so far", In June, NYC Ferry had to charter two 400-passenger charter boats for the East Ferry route to alleviate crowding on the routes serving Governors Island while packed boats skipped stops along these routes. Due to unexpected demand, crowding became worse as the summer of 2017 progressed, with packed-to-capacity boats and long waits becoming more common. By July 2017, there were an estimated 83,500 riders on the South Brooklyn route in one month, exceeding the original ridership estimate by more than 30,000. That month, three new boats being built were also revised to fit more passengers. By July 26, 2017, NYC Ferry had carried 1 million riders. In August 2017, NYC Ferry filed plans to build four ferry docks: one in Soundview, one in Yorkville, one near Stuyvesant Cove, and one on the Lower East Side. The Soundview route was revised so that it would stop at East 34th Street instead of at East 62nd Street, which would no longer be built. That month, Brooklyn politicians called for docks to be built in Coney Island and Canarsie, owing to the new system's popularity. The Astoria route was projected to carry 1,800 daily passengers upon opening, by which point the service had seen 1.4 million riders. Due to even more ridership demand, three extra ferries were ordered in September 2017, by which time over 2 million people had ridden the ferry. By November 2017, there had been a total of 2.5 million rides on NYC Ferry, compared to the 1.8 million that had been projected by this time, and two of the four routes had already surpassed ridership milestones that the city had not anticipated would be reached until 2019. At that point, the city had spent $16.5 million to subsidize the ferry. The New York Post reported in November 2017 that five of the new ferryboats had already been taken out of service due to leaks. According to the Post, the boats were taken out of service starting in October after Coast Guard inspectors observed severe corrosion on the hulls. Hornblower subsequently confirmed the report, saying that the cause of the corrosion was misaligned keel coolers, and that three vessels had been removed from service in October for repair, followed by three more in November. Construction on the four remaining NYC Ferry docks in Manhattan and the Bronx started on February 28, 2018, in preparation for the start of Lower East Side and Soundview service that summer. In May 2018, the first anniversary of the ferry system's opening, de Blasio announced that NYC Ferry had received an extra $300 million to purchase extra boats, increase fleet capacity, and expand service. The number of new boats was not specified, but it was expected that there would be a mix of standard 150-passenger boats and large 350-passenger boats; as a stopgap, Hornblower would charter up to eight 500-passenger boats for temporary use on NYC Ferry. At this point, the city planned that the service would see 9 million riders per year, double the original annual estimate of 4.5 million riders. However, critics stated that the MTA's subway and bus systems carried a combined 7 million passengers per day, and that such a large subsidy for NYC Ferry was disproportionate to the number of people who rode the ferry. According to The Village Voice, NYC Ferry was aiming to transport 24,500 daily riders by 2023, a figure smaller than the 2017 daily ridership of 14 local bus routes. NYC Ferry had averaged 10,000 daily riders in 2017, while the bus and subway system had respectively carried 2 million and 5 million daily riders on average. Further changes 2010s In August 2018, it was announced that service on NYC Ferry's Soundview and Lower East Side routes would begin that month. The route to Soundview opened on August 15, 2018, followed by the Lower East Side route on August 29. New York City Transit extended select Bx27 bus trips to Clason Point Park to serve the Soundview route in mid-2018. Following the opening of the Lower East Side route in August 2018, de Blasio stated that he planned for the system to expand further. In January 2019, de Blasio announced further expansions to the NYC Ferry system to take place by 2021. There would be two new routes to Staten Island and Coney Island, as well as extensions of two additional routes. The Staten Island route would travel between Manhattan's West Side and the St. George Terminal in St. George, Staten Island, and was originally slated to open in 2020, but was pushed back to 2021. The Coney Island route would travel between Pier 11 Wall Street and Coney Island, and would start operating in 2021. The Astoria route would make an extra stop at Brooklyn Navy Yard, while the Soundview route would be extended from Soundview east to Throggs Neck. The South Brooklyn route would terminate at Brooklyn Army Terminal, and the existing Bay Ridge ferry pier would be served by the Coney Island route. The Brooklyn Navy Yard stop opened on May 20, 2019. The same month, NYC Ferry launched a new weekend-only shuttle from Pier 11/Wall Street to Governors Island, replacing the East River and South Brooklyn service to the island. The service expansion required that the city increase its per-rider subsidy to $8. In March 2019, the nonprofit Citizens Budget Commission (CBC) found that NYC Ferry was one of the most subsidized forms of transport in New York City, despite having low ridership. The CBC found that the city paid $10.73 per person per ride, and once the Coney Island route started operating, the subsidy to NYC Ferry would rise to $25 per person per ride. The per-ride subsidy was so high because NYC Ferry had only 4.1 million passengers in 2018, less than the total subway patronage on an average weekday. Furthermore, NYC Ferry ridership tended to decline by two-thirds between August and January of each year. In January 2020, the NYCEDC announced three minor changes to the expansion plan. The St. George ferry's Staten Island terminal would be Empire Outlets rather than St. George Terminal; the South Brooklyn route would be truncated to a new stop at Industry City; and the Coney Island ferry would go directly between Bay Ridge and Wall Street without a stop at the Brooklyn Army Terminal. Early 2020s On May 18, 2020, service was reduced, all ferry service ending at 9 p.m., with the discontinuation of the Lower East Side route, the addition of the Stuyvesant Cove stop to the Soundview line, and the modification of the South Brooklyn route to run from Atlantic Avenue to Wall Street, Dumbo, and to its new last stop at Corlears Hook. The ferry to Staten Island would not be implemented until 2021, along with the Coney Island and Throggs Neck expansions. On June 27, 2020, the summer schedule was implemented, increasing frequency of all routes except for the Governors Island route, which remained indefinitely suspended until July 18. Shortly after, de Blasio budgeted $62 million for eight new vessels. On August 22, 2020, the Astoria route was extended to 90th Street and the Rockaway route received a schedule modification. On November 2, 2020, the East River route was extended north to Hunters Point South, with the previous northern terminal, East 34th Street, becoming the second to last stop. Throughout 2021, numerous stops experienced periodic closures due to mechanical failures, according to AM New York Metro's analysis of announcements on NYC Ferry's Twitter account. In April 2021, the Dumbo ferry landing was closed for eight to ten weeks so it could be relocated to Fulton Ferry, and the South Williamsburg landing was closed for the same amount of time for expansion. The Greenpoint landing was temporarily closed in October 2020 because the pier had been sold, and it was closed again in May 2021 due to a mechanical issue; it did not reopen until November 2022. The St. George route began operating on August 23, 2021. Further expansion of the ferry network on Staten Island was not planned at that time; in places like the East Shore and South Shore of Staten Island, any new construction would potentially require building a dock of at least due to shallow waters there. The Throggs Neck ferry stop opened on December 28, 2021, with the Soundview route being extended there. Another issue was that the creek itself was heavily polluted, and a Superfund cleanup project was being planned for the creek. Independent news site Hell Gate subsequently reported that test boats had repeatedly run aground in Coney Island Creek and that sand had returned to the creek after it was partially dredged in 2021. Mayor Eric Adams announced in July 2022 that NYC Ferry would implement new fare rates that September, which would increase revenue by an estimated $2 million per year. That September, city officials announced that further NYC Ferry expansions would be postponed until the system's finances stabilized. The city government agreed in August 2023 to pay Hornblower $405 million to continue operating NYC Ferry for five years. Residents of City Island, Bronx, and Canarsie, Brooklyn, also advocated for ferry stops in their respective neighborhoods, and there were also calls for a ferry line from Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, to Staten Island. Mid-2020s to present On February 21, 2024, Hornblower filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, also filing proceedings under the ''Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act'' of Canada shortly after. Hornblower was sold to Strategic Value Partners, a private equity firm, that day. The same year, NYC Ferry began looking to sell its naming rights. In July 2024, NYC Ferry announced that it would raise fares again; the fare increases took effect on September 9. The City Council introduced legislation that September, which would compel the NYCEDC to study the feasibility of further expanding the ferry system. By then, ridership on NYC Ferry had surpassed figures from before the COVID-19 pandemic. By November 2024, NYC Ferry's year-to-date ridership had reached 6.9 million, higher than any other year since the system launched. However, its ridership was still less than 1% of the subway system's annual ridership. In mid-2025, City Council members Kamillah Hanks and Justin Brannan introduced legislation to permit the South Brooklyn ferry route to be extended from Bay Ridge to Staten Island. The NYCEDC announced that July that it was considering multiple changes to the NYC Ferry network. Among them, the Rockaway and Soundview routes would be merged; the East River route would become two skip-stop services; the South Brooklyn service would be extended north to 34th Street and would no longer serve Sunset Park or Bay Ridge; and the St. George route would be extended at its south end to serve Bay Ridge, Atlantic Avenue, and Wall Street. That August, the system recorded more than 1 million monthly riders for the first time ever. The EDC was again studying the feasibility of a Coney Island ferry service in late 2025. That November, the EDC finalized its route changes, with minor modifications, and announced plans for new ferry piers at East Harlem in Manhattan and Bush Terminal in Brooklyn; the changes, excluding the new piers, went into effect December 8. Following the January 23–27, 2026 North American winter storm, the entire NYC Ferry system experienced its first multi-week shutdown in its history. ==Routes==

, there are six routes and one seasonal route that make up the NYC Ferry system. There was a phased introduction of these routes. Phase 1 covered the routes implemented in 2017 and provided new service to the Rockaways, Bay Ridge, Sunset Park, Roosevelt Island, and Astoria in addition to areas already served by the East River Ferry. Phase 2 covered the routes implemented in 2018 and provided new service to Soundview, Yorkville, Kips Bay, and the Lower East Side. East River Ferry East River ferries operate in both directions with year-round service, running every 22 minutes during rush hours, every 36 minutes during middays and evenings, and every 24 minutes on weekends. Starting on December 8, 2025, the route was split into two service patterns during weekday rush hours and weekends from March to November; it will continue to run as one route during weekday off-peak hours and weekends from December to February. The East River Ferry would also terminate at East 34th Street, with the Hunter's Point South stop as an intermediate stop. On May 19, 2020, this route was modified to replace the Lower East Side route when it was discontinued. The route north of Atlantic Av was changed, where it now serves Wall St/Pier 11 before DUMBO, and was extended to now end at Corlears Hook. In 2021, service to DUMBO, Sunset Park, and Bay Ridge was to be discontinued in conjunction with the opening of the Coney Island route. However, due to issues trying to find a suitable landing in Coney Island, the route was postponed indefinitely as well as the changes to the South Brooklyn route. It is unknown if the addition of the Industry City stop, will still occur. Starting on December 8, 2025, the South Brooklyn Ferry was extended north to East 34th Street, no longer serving Sunset Park or Bay Ridge except during the summer. Starting on December 8, 2025, the Rockaway and Soundview ferries were combined. St. George Ferry This route runs every 30 minutes during rush hours, every 45 minutes during midday, every 45 minutes weekend mornings, and every 30 minutes on weekend afternoons and evenings. This route is the first NYC Ferry route to not stop at Wall St/Pier 11. Rockaway Rocket The Rockaway Rocket express service was introduced in 2022 and runs during summer weekends and holidays. The Rockaway Rocket is a premium-fare service; a seat is reserved for every ticket holder. During mornings, the Rockaway Rocket runs directly from Pier 11 to Rockaway; during afternoons and evenings, the Rockaway Rocket runs from Rockaway to Pier 11. Originally costing $8 per ticket, the Rockaway Rocket is a new variation of the Rockaway Express route, which last ran in 2019. Due to intense crowding, a special express version of the Rockaway route, named the Rockaway Rocket, supplements the regular Rockaway ferry by providing direct service to the Rockaways with reserved guaranteed seating and a higher price. Fares were again raised to $12 in 2025. This route was permanently discontinued on May 18, 2020, due to low ridership, and was replaced by the Astoria, Soundview, and South Brooklyn lines. ==Fares and amenities==

The fare for a single, one-way trip is $4.50. 30-day passes were available for $121, while a 30-day pass for cyclists cost $141. The NYC Ferry system does not provide free transfer to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's greater mass transit system, nor does it accept MetroCards nor OMNY. Ferry tickets can be purchased online, through NYC Ferry's mobile app, or physically at a ticket booth or ticket machine. In September 2024, fares were increased to $29 for a 10-trip ticket, $4.50 for a single-trip ticket, and $1.45 for a reduced-fare ticket. Tickets for Rockaway Reserve seat reservations and Rockaway Rocket express ferries were increased to $12 for 2025. As part of a pilot program, in October 2025, NYC Ferry began selling 48-hour unlimited passes for $15. The original boats can carry 150 people each, including wheelchairs, strollers, and bicycles. As a further incentive the boats have snack and drinks available for purchase. ==Stops==

The service has 25 landings, of which ten brand-new, five upgraded, and six pre-existing landings with no upgrades with the addition of NYC Ferry routes. The existing East River Ferry landings at Brooklyn Bridge Park Pier 1; Schaefer Landing, North Williamsburg, Greenpoint, and Long Island City remained unchanged. Upgrades were made to the landings at Wall Street, East 34th Street, East 92nd Street, the Brooklyn Army Terminal, and Brooklyn Bridge Park Pier 6. The remaining landings were built as part of the project. It was decided to build the Rockaway dock at Beach 108th Street, but a proposed second dock could not be built further east than Beach 84th Street due to height restrictions caused by the Rockaway Line subway bridge. The upgraded landings, which increase capacity and passenger flow, are located on barges that connect to land via the use of either one or two articulated ramps. The landings conform to the Americans with Disabilities Act and contain enclosed waiting rooms with ticket booths and information boards. Mono-pile mooring facilities are installed on the side of the landings to ensure that the ferries dock safely, but some landings also include extra bulkheads or piers. ==Ferry fleet==

In July 2016, Metal Shark Boats and Horizon Shipbuilding were jointly awarded construction contracts for the service's new-build ferries. The vessels, which were designed by Incat Crowther, are about long, with a beam, and have a passenger capacity of 149. The first new-build vessel for NYC Ferry was launched by Horizon Shipbuilding on February 13, 2017. These boats arrived in New York City on April 17 and were named at a ceremony at Brooklyn Bridge Park. The boats use the same types of loading equipment on the port and starboard Sides and bow as do boats that already operated in the New York Harbor. The Brooklyn Army Terminal and Brooklyn Navy Yard were considered for the location of the vessel maintenance facility. Renovation of the site was required to remove an existing pier and replace it with a new structure capable of docking up to 25 boats. This new facility is responsible for performing regular cleaning and maintenance on the vessels. The construction work began in spring 2017 with completion in March 2019. Before being allowed to pilot a NYC Ferry vessel, prospective captains are tested using a ferry simulation at the State University of New York Maritime College in Throggs Neck. , there were plans to hire up to 50 captains by 2018. In July 2017, Hornblower started looking to hire 80 deckhands to dock boats. Active roster The following vessels are owned and operated by Hornblower for NYC Ferry operation, and do not include vessels leased from other companies. ==Schedules and shuttle buses==

NYC Ferry operates from 5:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. during all seven days of the week. The third route travels between the Throggs Neck dock and the Ferry Point Park parking lot. Another route previously provided shuttle bus service to the East 34th Street landing and was taken over from a preexisting NY Waterway route, but was discontinued in April 2024 due to low ridership. ==Impact==

Reception There has been both praise and criticism for the ferry service. Conversely, the ferry system has been criticized for mainly benefiting the well-off and for serving gentrifying waterfront areas such as Williamsburg. Most of the ferry stops were placed in areas where the annual income is higher than the city average. When the system opened, it did not serve Staten Island, and one writer for the Staten Island Advance noted that the then-planned Stapleton route was not only unfunded but also redundant to the existing Staten Island Ferry. In July 2017, after the ferry had opened, a commentator for the news website CityLab called the NYC Ferry system's "customer-oriented amenities" a "key to transit's future." The writer noted that some of the high-quality amenities included snacks and drinks, an advanced ticketing system, connections to shuttle buses at certain terminals, and ferry workers who provided customer service—in contrast to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which she said "blames riders for its staggering decline in reliability" over the previous year. A reporter for Curbed NY wrote in September 2017 that the East River route was "worth the $2.75 fare, especially if you're a person who loves architecture", owing to its waterfront views of landmarks along the river. After NYCEDC president James Patchett touted the ferry as a substitute to the subway system, Henry Grabar of Slate Moneybox said that each ferry fits fewer people than a single subway car. Grabar also stated that "the commute will be a real delight" for the few who found the ferry convenient enough. The New York Post editorial board wrote in June 2020, "Mayor Bill de Blasio's favorite white elephant had turned into a real drag on the city" even before the COVID-19 pandemic, with the NYCEDC recording its first negative profits in 2019. Tom Fox, the president of New York Water Taxi from 2001 to 2011, wrote in 2016 that the plan was marred with "an unrealistic time frame, the wrong lead agency, the selection of an inexperienced operator with no ferries, and poor planning". He noted that the city bought French motorboat engines that had never been used on passenger boats in the United States; and that since all American shipyards with expertise were not able to take new orders until 2018, the city decided to use a builder with less experience. Another writer for that website stated that Hornblower had hired ticket sellers who harangued passersby in order to sell tickets for separate ferries in Lower Manhattan. The aggressive ticket-selling practice was stopped following the latter story. Rider satisfaction According to an August 2017 customer satisfaction survey from the NYCEDC, passengers had a mostly positive view of the NYC Ferry system, with 93% of riders giving positive ratings. In May 2018, The Village Voice conducted an informal demographic survey of NYC Ferry riders, since the NYCEDC had not officially released the rider-demographic data. The Voice found that most of the 60 riders it encountered were using the ferry simply because it was less crowded and more comfortable compared to the subway. Additionally, many of the surveyed riders worked in higher-income jobs. ==Other ferries==

Several ferries in the New York City area were affected when plans for NYC Ferry were made public. NY Waterway would give over its East River route to NYC Ferry. but continued operations through the end of the year before being purchased by Circle Line Sightseeing Cruises in January 2017. The city-owned Staten Island Ferry remains a separate entity. In September of the same year, private developers on the South Shore of Staten Island also negotiated with SeaStreak to run a separate fast ferry route from the South Shore to Lower Manhattan. ==References==