{"id":435038,"date":"2025-12-09T06:52:34","date_gmt":"2025-12-09T06:52:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/435038\/"},"modified":"2025-12-09T06:52:34","modified_gmt":"2025-12-09T06:52:34","slug":"nyc-ferry-launches-staten-island-to-brooklyn-route","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/435038\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC Ferry launches Staten Island to Brooklyn route"},"content":{"rendered":"

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 As of 6:05 a.m. today, the boroughs of Staten Island and Brooklyn are again connected by boat \u2014 the first time since the opening of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge<\/a>. <\/p>\n

On Monday, the NYC Ferry\u2019s completely overhauled schedule went into effect<\/a>. Among a number of other changes, with new routes being created and others being condensed, the new schedule established ferry service between Bay Ridge and St. George.<\/p>\n

The first boat that left the fast ferry dock near Wall Street in St. George on Monday morning represented an end to a four-year campaign to link the two boroughs<\/a> by water and the beginning of new connectivity between the communities. <\/p>\n

\"nwsAfter completing the first trip from Staten Island to Brooklyn, the NYC Ferry Starlight waits at Wall Street\/Pier 11 in Manhattan to pick up passengers for a return trip.(Advance\/SILive.com | Mike Matteo)<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a long time coming,\u201d said John Kilcullen of Tompkinsville. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s connecting us to the rest of the city, and this is my first trip from Staten Island to Brooklyn not via car,\u201d he continued. \u201cYou can hop over now and go to Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx via a boat. It\u2019s almost seamless.\u201d<\/p>\n

There were six passengers on the inaugural ferry from Staten Island to Brooklyn at 6:05 a.m. <\/p>\n

As the vessel bobbed and the metal pier was heard creaking in the choppy waters, the crew of the Starlight ferryboat deftly navigated the predawn harbor waters and crossed the Narrows. <\/p>\n

During the trip, some on board reflected on what the new ferry made possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m definitely excited about the connection to Brooklyn, that\u2019s for sure,\u201d said John Gilling of Stapleton, one of the first passengers on the new ferry. <\/p>\n

\"nwsPassengers board the NYC Ferry Owls Head at the St. George stop, on route to Midtown West, on Monday, Dec. 8, 2025.(Advance\/SILive.com | Mike Matteo)<\/p>\n

\u201cMy wife and I just moved from Brooklyn to Staten Island in February, so we were starting to feel a little… I won\u2019t say estranged from our Brooklyn friends, but it was a pain to get there without driving,\u201d Gilling continued, adding that he was on his way to get breakfast with his sister. \u201cSo this is great.\u201d<\/p>\n

After stopping in Bay Ridge, the ferry continued to the two remaining stops on the line \u2014Brooklyn Bridge Park and Wall Street\/Pier 11. <\/p>\n

The boat landed at the Wall Street pier in the East River just before 6:40 a.m., an approximately 35 minute journey from start to finish. <\/p>\n

On a later return trip to Staten Island, one Bay Ridge resident said the new route would completely revamp his morning commute.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would take the S79 over the bridge and then transfer to Old Town, and take the Staten Island Railroad to St. George,\u201d said Ben D., who works at the courts on Staten Island and asked that his last name not be used. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t intuitive.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know anybody who put [the new route] together, but they must have known that this would be better for me,\u201d he joked.<\/p>\n

\"nwsAfter making the initial ride to Bay Ridge on Monday morning, the NYC Ferry Starlight departs St. George for another trip to Brooklyn.(Advance\/SILive.com | Mike Matteo)<\/p>\n

Later in the morning, the New York City Economic Development Corporation \u2014 which oversees the NYC Ferry \u2014 hosted a ribbon cutting, celebrating the inaugural ride of the Staten Island to Brooklyn route. <\/p>\n

Over 70 elected officials, agency representatives, transit advocates and community members made the trip across the water, with many celebrating the culmination of years of work to bring this to fruition. <\/p>\n

\"nwsStaten Island politicians including (from left) District Attorney Michael E. McMahon, Councilmember Kamillah Hanks, and Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, brave the cold in St. George before cutting a ribbon to celebrate the new ferry to Brooklyn.(Advance\/SILive.com | Mike Matteo)<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an incredible, incredible accomplishment for the North Shore and Brooklyn, bringing these two boroughs back together by our blue subway\u201a\u201d said Councilmember Kamillah Hanks, a longterm supporter of the route<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cNorth Shore development is now going to be catapulted into the stratosphere,\u201d the Democrat representing the Island\u2019s North Shore continued. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis has been the dream since they built the bridge and killed the ferry, this has been the dream to bring this back. The infrastructure was there, that\u2019s the hardest part.\u201d said Councilmember Justin Brannan, a Democrat representing Bay Ridge. \u201cEverything was there, and it just took the political will.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"nwsA NYC Ferry boat travels up the East River after leaving Wall Street\/Pier 11 in Manhattan on Monday, Dec. 8, 2025.(Advance\/SILive.com | Mike Matteo)<\/p>\n

The new route was also celebrated by several other of the borough\u2019s incumbent politicians, especially those whose districts span both Staten Island and Brooklyn.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is one of the things I talked about when I ran for mayor in 2017. That\u2019s how long this idea has been floating out there,\u201d said Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, a Republican representing Staten Island and parts of Brooklyn. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really proud to have delivered billions of dollars in federal infrastructure funding to support the DOT and EDC,\u201d she continued. \u201cThis particular ferry is important to me, being somebody who represents both Staten Island and Bay Ridge, Brooklyn and being able to connect the two.\u201d <\/p>\n

In addition, Borough President Vito Fossella, District Attorney Michael E. McMahon, and representatives for Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams and State Senator Jessica Scarcella-Spanton were in attendance. <\/p>\n

\u201cResidents have been calling for a faster, more reliable way to reach Brooklyn,\u201d said Assemblymember Charles Fall, a Democrat representing the North Shore, a small portion of Brooklyn, and lower Manhattan.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe new fast ferry delivers on that shared effort. It cuts commute times and finally gives Staten Islanders the direct link they\u2019ve waited years to see,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n

\"nwsAn NYC Ferry captain navigates the boat between the Bay Ridge and Brooklyn Bridge park stops on the St. George route.(Advance\/SILive.com | Mike Matteo)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe St. George fast ferry\u2019s expansion to Bay Ridge is an absolute game changer for our borough, its commuters and Staten Island\u2019s quality of life as a whole,\u201d said McMahon.<\/p>\n

As the boat progressed along the route, the mood onboard stayed jovial all the way to Wall Street. As each stop was announced over the ship\u2019s PA system, a cheer erupted from the passengers, with others lining up to briefly disembark and tour the fast ferry stops.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter more than three years of advocacy, it\u2019s finally time to celebrate!\u201d said Rose Uscianowski, the Staten Island and South Brooklyn Organizer for Transportation Alternatives. \u201cThe expansion of fast ferry service is an enormous win for all of Staten Island.\u201d<\/p>\n

The enthusiasm for this ferry connection is one that EDC officials say was shared during the public comment period on the changes, after the new route was first proposed by the agency<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we announced in July our original plan, we put out an engagement form to ask our riders what they thought and we got 15,00 responses to that survey,\u201d explained James Wong, executive director of NYC Ferry.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose numbers really gave us the foundation to say that people were going to love this, and, yes, Staten Island to Brooklyn was consistently one of the things that people were asking for the entire time. We were really excited to deliver on them.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 As of 6:05 a.m. today, the boroughs of Staten Island and Brooklyn are again…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":435039,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-435038","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-new-york","10":"tag-new-york-city","11":"tag-newyork","12":"tag-newyorkcity","13":"tag-ny","14":"tag-nyc","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-united-states-of-america","17":"tag-unitedstates","18":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","19":"tag-us","20":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115688292888429462","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=435038"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435038\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/435039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=435038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=435038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=435038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}