Brooklyn Rides BROOKLYN-USA.ORG
Coney Islanders who had called for a ferry stop in the People’s Playground — including, from left, Community Board 13 district manager
Eddie Mark; executive director of the Alliance for Coney Island Alexandra Silversmith; Councilman Mark Treyger; and Coney
Islanders 4 Ferry founder Daniel Ioannou — cheered the city’s long-awaited announcement that a ferry landing will arrive in the neighborhood
by 2021. Photo by Steve Solomonson
City ferry service will add a stop in Coney Island
as part of its new express route to Manhattan
Coney Island will receive a long
sought after stop on the city’s ferry
service as part of a new South
Brooklyn express route to Manhattan,
Mayor Bill de Blasio announced.
“We’ll connect Coney Island to
lower Manhattan,” De Blasio said
during his in January state of the
city address.
NYC Ferry service to and from Coney
Island should begin by 2021, and
when it does, the system’s current
South Brooklyn route — which sails
from Bay Ridge to Sunset Park, Red
Hook, Brooklyn Heights, and Dumbo
before heading to Manhattan, with
weekend stops at Governors Island —
will eliminate both the Bay Ridge stop,
which will become part of an express
line between Coney and Manhattan,
and the Dumbo stop, which will become
part of the East River route.
The news is an achievement
worth celebrating, according to
Borough President Adams, who
cheered the new route and thanked
the mayor for his diligence in delivering
an alternative commuting option
to the transit-hungry Southern
Brooklyn neighborhood.
“The expansion of NYC Ferry service
14 ONE BROOKLYN | SPRING 2019
to Coney Island is a milestone
achievement, a common-sense solution
that affi rms our years of advocacy
on behalf of transit-starved
residents on the West End and small
businesses that depend on tourist
activity,” said Adams. “Our city has
historically underutilized its waterways,
what some consider to be the
honorary sixth borough. As borough
president, I’ve been proud to oversee
the growth of ferry service from
Bay Ridge to Greenpoint, and I thank
Mayor de Blasio for hearing our call
to establish a new route to Coney Island
in 2021.”
The coastal enclave’s local councilman
also touted the new route as “another
great victory” for Coney Island.
“The expansion of the NYC Ferry
system to Coney Island is a major step
forward for Southern Brooklyn’s students,
working families, seniors, and
the millions from across New York
City and beyond who visit the iconic
People’s Playground and Riegelmann
Boardwalk every year,” said Councilman
Mark Treyger, who pushed for a
local stop since the fi rst batch of citywide
routes debuted in May 2017.
Coney Islanders for years requested
a local route, arguing a nautical
commute would improve access
to jobs and education citywide for
residents who otherwise must trek
to the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue
and West Eighth Street-New York
Aquarium stations to catch the D, F,
N, and Q lines — a trip that requires
a bus ride for locals living in Coney’s
West End, where the preliminary
plan calls for building the new Coney
ferry dock.
The city tentatively plans to build
the dock near the mouth of Coney
Island Creek at W. 33rd Street and
Bayview Ave., according to a spokeswoman
for the Economic Development
Corporation — the agency that
oversees the ferry system — who said
ferries originating in Coney will stop
in Bay Ridge, before sailing to Wall
Street’s Pier 11, a trip she estimated
will take a little less than 40 minutes
dock-to-dock.
The city fi rst fl oated launching a
ferry service back in 2012, when offi
cials suggested creating a Coney
Island Creek stop at a dilapidated
fi shing pier at Kaiser Park — a few
blocks east of the newly announced
tentative site. But the city ultimately
rejected that creek location, saying it
was too far from the amusement district.
And several other possible locations,
introduced by different groups
and city agencies, ultimately proved
unfavorable.
Adams, who initially suggested a
landing be placed along Coney Island
Creek at W. 21st Street, said he looks
forward to working with Treyger, the
community, and other city agencies
to fi nd the right home for the water
taxi.
And the borough president will
continue to look for opportunities to
bring ferry service to other transitstarved
areas of Kings County.
“In the months ahead, I will continue
conversations with NYCEDC
and the Coney Island community on
the establishment of this new ferry
route as well as the location of a dedicated
landing, which I have called
for siting along Coney Island Creek
at W. 21st Street,” said Adams. “Additionally,
my pursuits of ferry service
to Canarsie — a community in
true need of transit equity — as well
as a ferry connection between Brooklyn
and Staten Island are as strong as
ever.”
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