Ferry Service Will Come To The Lower East Side This Summer

LOWER EAST SIDE, NY — The Lower East Side will get NYC Ferry service starting this summer, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Wednesday.

The neighborhood will get its own dedicated ferry route that can shuttle commuters from the Lower East Side to Wall Street and to Midtown in a fraction of the time that a subway commute would take, the city claims.

The new dock will be built at Corlears Hook Park, just south of the Williamsburg Bridge.

The city expects ferry service to shrink commuting times for Lower East Siders. The new ferry route can get from the Lower East Side to Wall Street in nine minutes and from the Lower East Side to Midtown in 17 minutes, according to the city's estimates. For many Lower East Siders, it takes a 13 minute walk just to get to the nearest subway station.

The new Lower East Side route will serve one million riders annually, the city projects.

NYC Ferry, which launched in 2017, currently operates along four routes throughout the city. Transit officials are adding two new routes — the Lower East Side route and a route servicing the Bronx — that are both expected to being this summer.

Council Member Margaret Chin, who represents the Lower East Side in City Hall, applauded the expanded service and said the ferry route could help the more than 8,000 families living in public housing in the neighborhood.

"The success of the NYC Ferry is proof that access to fast and affordable public transportation options doesn't just shorten commutes for busy New Yorkers – in transit-strapped communities like the Lower Manhattan waterfront, it changes lives," Chin said in a statement. "With the NYC Ferry expanding to the Lower East Side, more residents, including the thousands of families living in NYCHA developments in my district, will have access to a reliable and direct link to the rest of the city for the price of a subway or bus ride."

The Lower East Side route will stop at Wall Street/Pier 11, Corlears Hook, Stuyvesant Cove, East 34th Street and Long Island City in Queens.

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