NEW $4 FERRY FARES

Adams rocks boat

Mayor Adams will raise fares on the city’s highly subsidized ferry system to $4 beginning Sept. 12 — while dolling out discounts to low-income New Yorkers and offering a reservationonly Rockaway express to the more well off.

Under the mayor’s plan, senior citizens, people with disabilities and New Yorkers enrolled in the city’s Fair Fares program will be charged $1.35 — as opposed to $2.75 — starting Sept. 12.

“To those who say it’s just for the affluent New Yorkers, it’s just wrong,” Adams said at an announcement at the Astoria Ferry Landing. “If we have those who have to pay a higher fare to subsidize the others, that’s a win-win for me.”

The $4 fare is for “tourists and infrequent riders,” the mayor said. Frequent riders will also be able to buy a 10ticket pass for $27.50 — the cost of a subway ride and the current fare for a ferry ride — and the city will give two free rides to NYCHA residents “to introduce” them to the service.

Adams also plans to launch an $8-per-ride reservation-based weekend shuttle from lower Manhattan to Rockaway starting July 23 through Labor Day to alleviate crowding on the regular Rockaway line — which remains the most popular.

“We want to get those who were afraid of using the system, not believing the system is for them,” Adams said. “We are going to dig deeper into who’s not utilizing this ride.”

Costs city $14+ a ride

City taxpayers subsidize ferry trips at as much as $14.75 per ride, according to a recent audit by city Comptroller Brad Lander. But former Mayor Bill de Blasio insisted for years on keeping the fare at $2.75 — even as the city’s own research found ridership was primarily among higher income New Yorkers and tourists.

Lander said the moneylosing ferry system was operating far deeper in the red than previously acknowledged by the Economic Development Corp., which in 2016 estimated that taxpayers would have to subsidize the service at a cost of $6.60 per ride.

Some one million city residents will be eligible for the $1.35 fare, city EDC President Andrew Kimball said — noting that anticipated increased ridership combined with higher fares would reduce the per-trip subsidy.

“Our analysis shows now somewhere between $4 and $5 you start to lose ridership, ” Kimball said.