For residents living in South Brooklyn, the commute to Manhattan can be a long one by train or by car.
“From here? An hour, an hour and a half, two hours for a long time, if there is traffic,” Brandon Esparza said.
Esparza.
But now there is an option that reduces that time.
On Wednesday, the New York City Ferry Service began operating express service along the South Brooklyn route across the East River.
“We’re going to get people to work half an hour faster,” said Andrew Kimball, president of the New York City Economic Development Corporation. On the first day of service, Kimball was accompanied by Mayor Adams on one of the first trips.
“Thumbs up 👍 for the maiden voyage of our South Brooklyn Fastest Connections pilot, NOW IN SERVICE! ⛴,” the NYC Ferry wrote in a social media post.
Thumbs up 👍 for the maiden voyage of our South Brooklyn Faster Connections Pilot, which is NOW IN SERVICE! ⛴
Tap the link for more info + the full schedules of our #SouthBrooklyn route: https://t.co/5EKqJcZFbn
📸: Courtesy of @NYCEDC pic.twitter.com/cUy4QTjjg8
— NYC Ferry (@NYCferry) March 8, 2023
5 express trips are offered that only happen in the morning.
They promise to get people from Bay Ridge to Wall Street in about 21 minutes – a trip that usually takes 50 minutes.
The first departure is at 6:32 in the morning, the last is at 9:52. They leave every 50 minutes.
“I think it’s perfect because all of us go to work early and in the afternoon it’s a little more, calmer,” said one user.
The faster service is possible because three stops along the route have been eliminated during those trips: those are the Brooklyn Army Terminal, Red Hook, and Governors Island. The ferry will still make the Atlantic Avenue/Brooklyn Bridge Park stop.
The service offers free transfers on Wall Street to get to the stops you skip.
Brooklyn residents say they would use it because it would buy them more time in the morning.
“Spending breakfast with the family for a while and saying goodbye and not running out of the house so quickly,” added Esparza.
From now on, the express service will operate indefinitely in the morning from Monday to Friday. The rest of the time the ferry will operate on a normal schedule in Brooklyn
