Quicker ferry run coming for south Brooklyn commuters

Seafaring straphangers from Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, will have a quicker commute next month as the NYC Ferry begins a pilot schedule to speed up weekday morning boats on the route.

Ferries leaving from Bay Ridge between 6:15 a.m. and 10:15 a.m. on weekdays will make only two stops, at Atlantic Ave. in Brooklyn and Wall Street. Manhattan-bound boats departing the Brooklyn Army Terminal in Sunset Park will make all the regular stops, but skip Atlantic Ave.

The city’s Economic Development Corporation, which runs the NYC Ferry system, says commuters who board at Bay Ridge can expect to get to Wall Street in just 21 minutes.

Though the new schedule is being pitched as a pilot, it has no expiration date, said an EDC spokesperson.

Existing service on the South Brooklyn route will continue after 10 a.m., with boats from Bay Ridge making their usual stops in Sunset Park, Red Hook, Governors Island and Atlantic Ave.

“The faster ferry connections in South Brooklyn will not only reduce morning commute times for residents along the South Brooklyn route but continues our Ferry Forward plan of bringing innovative and cost-effective solutions to NYC Ferry,” NYCEDC President Andrew Kimball said in a statement.

The new schedule is the result of conversations with South Brooklyn commuters over the winter, the EDC says. The South Brooklyn route currently has the longest travel times in the NYC Ferry system — including ferries that serve the Rockaways and the Bronx.

A 2022 survey of ferry riders found that more peak-time riders were using the system to get to work than any other time since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Fares for the ferry went up for casual riders last year amid a scathing audit accusing former Mayor Bill deBlasio’s administration of hiding over $200 million in costs.