City Tweaks Ferry Pricing in Wake of Audit With $4 Tix, But Is It Too Shallow?

The base fare of the New York City Ferry will go up to $4 a ride — with new discounts for seniors and Fair Fare program participants — as the city tries to make its program financially “sustainable,” officials said. 

Katie Honan and Jose Martinez, The City

Republished: The Roosevelt Island Daily News

This article was originally published on Jul 14 2:35pm EDT by THE CITY /Sign up here to get the latest stories from THE CITY delivered to you each morning.

The hike and new pricing structure comes as the city’s Economic Development Corporation had begun pumping more tax-payer money each year into the system, which launched in 2017 under then-Mayor Bill de Blasio.

The tack change also comes a week after Comptroller Brad Lander released an audit — spurred in part on THE CITY’s reporting — that found the system spent almost double the amount it originally said on subsidies to keep it afloat.

Under the new price system, set to launch Sept. 12, the base fare of $2.75 will go up to $4.

New Yorkers over the age of 65, those with disabilities, and participants in the Fair Fares program — which offers half-priced rides within the MTA system for low-income commuters — will get a discounted price of $1.35 per ticket, officials announced. 

Public housing residents within a mile of a ferry dock will also get two free boat rides a month. 

“Getting around New York City shouldn’t feel like you’re running a 5K. Wherever you live in the five boroughs, we want you to have choices, and our vision for the NYC Ferry helps provide New Yorkers with those choices,” Mayor Eric Adams said at the announcement near the Astoria dock on Thursday. 

He said his administration’s “Ferry Forward” plan would be “built on the three pillars of equity, accessibility, and fiscal sustainability.” 

The $4 base fare will “offset the cost of everyday New Yorkers who need to take the system,” Adams said. 

There will also be discounted 10-pack rides at $27.50 to retain regular commuters who ride the ferry the most.

Low Tide?

Andrew Rein, the president of the independent Citizens Budget Commission, praised the fare adjustment as “welcome progress,” but believes that the base fare should be closer to the $6.75 fare the MTA charges on express bus routes. 

“While EDC is employing the right approach, it is starting with lower fares than CBC recommends,” Rein said in a statement.

He added that the city should also consider charging higher fares on weekends and on longer routes with higher operating costs while reassessing the most-subsidized routes. 

Rein said the ultimate test will be if the city subsidy per ferry ride — which was $12.88 for Fiscal Year 2021, according to the comptroller’s report — will be reduced.  

The mayor argued there is a misconception that only the wealthiest New Yorkers ride the ferry. 

“It is for every New Yorker, and the more we introduce New Yorkers to utilizing it, they’re going to see how possible it is to move across this city,” Adams said. 

“The $4 fare decision was informed by ridership surveys, ridership demand modeling, and past experience with the East River Ferry,” EDC president Andrew Kimball said Thursday. 

The EDC’s own data shows the ridership has been predominantly white and higher-income compared to other public transportation. 

We’re Going to Need a Bigger Boat

Adams also announced additional express ferry routes to the Rockaway beaches — which was dubbed  the “Rockaway Rocket” at the press conference — that will go direct from Pier 11 in Manhattan to the dock at Beach 108th Street starting July 23. Each ride will require a reservation and cost $8 one way. 

“What we’ve seen with the Rockaways is extraordinary demand on the weekends to go to the beach,” Kimball told THE CITY. “We are going to add an extra boat, a big boat… so we’re not taking any seats away from anybody as it exists today.” 

Last week’s comptroller’s report said the EDC rang up a $758 million bill on ferry-related costs from July 2015 through the end of last year — but only reported $534 million in expenses in its official financial records.

“This is a very substantial financial underreporting and mismanagement,” Lander said while standing near Pier 11 in Lower Manhattan. “$250 million of underreporting raises a lot of questions and those questions should be asked.”

The comptroller’s report followed a series of stories in THE CITY about NYC Ferry, including one in January that revealed how de Blasio’s budget office supplied a $23.2 million infusion for the service before he left City Hall at the end of 2021 — after the service had previously been funded by the EDC.

Lander’s report calls into question the purchase of new boats — something THE CITY flagged in April 2019 — as well as the $2.75 fare that de Blasio insisted on for the privately operated ferry trips. The price of an NYC Ferry trip is still considerably lower than one on similar services in San Francisco and Boston.

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