Blog

Dai­ly NYC Fer­ry Ser­vice to Gov­er­nors Island to Start Jan­u­ary 24, 2022

Jan 20, 2022 8:59 am

New York City Eco­nom­ic Devel­op­ment Cor­po­ra­tion (NYCEDC) and the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island have announced that new, dai­ly, year-round NYC Fer­ry ser­vice to and from Gov­er­nors Island will begin Mon­day, Jan­u­ary 24, 2022. NYC Fer­ry will serve Gov­er­nors Island’s Yan­kee Pier via the South Brook­lyn Route, adding a stop between Red Hook and Sun­set Park, direct­ly con­nect­ing New York­ers to the island from the Low­er East Side and the Brook­lyn water­front. The ser­vice will sig­nif­i­cant­ly expand access to Gov­er­nors Island for vis­i­tors and a grow­ing num­ber of tenants.

“I am thrilled that New York­ers will final­ly be able to take NYC Fer­ry to the gem that is Gov­er­nors Island – every day, all year round,” said Maria Tor­res-Springer, Deputy May­or for Eco­nom­ic and Work­force Devel­op­ment. ​“I applaud NYCEDC and the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island for their work to make this incred­i­ble asset more acces­si­ble, and I look for­ward to even more peo­ple expe­ri­enc­ing and enjoy­ing all Gov­er­nors Island has to offer.”

“We’re proud to deliv­er on the promise of dai­ly, year-round fer­ry ser­vice to Gov­er­nors Island as part of our con­tin­u­ing expan­sion of NYC Ferry’s five-bor­ough net­work, which has become an inte­gral part of New York’s trans­porta­tion sys­tem and the City’s recov­ery,” said NYCEDC Pres­i­dent and CEO Rachel Loeb. ​“We join May­or Adams in con­grat­u­lat­ing the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island and all of our part­ners who have worked so hard to turn this vision into reality.” 

“This past year, we made his­toric progress in announc­ing that New York­ers will now be able to enjoy all that Gov­er­nors Island has to offer, 365 days per year, and we’re thrilled that we’ll now have expand­ed con­nec­tions to Brook­lyn and Man­hat­tan through NYC Fer­ry,” said Clare New­man, Pres­i­dent and CEO of the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“Expand­ed fer­ry ser­vice will con­nect more New York­ers than ever to Gov­er­nors Island’s open space, cul­tur­al, edu­ca­tion­al, and his­toric resources while increas­ing access for our grow­ing com­mu­ni­ty of ten­ants. We thank our part­ners at the Mayor’s office and NYCEDC for mak­ing this a reality” 

The new Gov­er­nors Island ser­vice is part of an ongo­ing NYC Fer­ry expan­sion that in the past year has added the St. George route con­nect­ing Stat­en Island to Manhattan’s West Side, and the exten­sion of the Sound­view route with a new land­ing in Fer­ry Point Park in Throgs Neck in the Bronx. NYCEDC also plans to launch ser­vice on a new Coney Island Route by late 2022. 

In Sep­tem­ber 2021, The Trust and the City announced that Gov­er­nors Island would be open to the pub­lic year-round for the first time in his­to­ry. This new dai­ly, year-round ser­vice will accom­mo­date Gov­er­nors Island’s win­ter hours from 7:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M. For NYC Fer­ry ser­vice sched­ules, vis­it ferry.nyc. For gen­er­al Gov­er­nors Island vis­i­tor infor­ma­tion, and for a full list of fer­ry ser­vice options, vis­it gov​is​land​.org/​ferry.

NYC Fer­ry ser­vice to Gov­er­nors Island on the South Brook­lyn route will oper­ate week­days and non-sum­mer week­ends and sup­ple­ment dai­ly fer­ries from Low­er Man­hat­tan oper­at­ed by the Trust. On sum­mer week­ends dur­ing the high­est rid­er­ship sea­son, NYC Fer­ry will con­tin­ue to oper­ate its ded­i­cat­ed shut­tle from Pier 11 in Low­er Man­hat­tan and the Trust will con­tin­ue to run its shut­tle from Brook­lyn Bridge Park-Pier 6 and Red Hook. When NYC Ferry’s Coney Island route launch­es in late 2022, the South Brook­lyn route will ter­mi­nate at Gov­er­nors Island. Bay Ridge will become part of the new Coney Island Route to pro­vide direct faster access to Pier 11 in Low­er Man­hat­tan and Sun­set Park will con­tin­ue to have express ser­vice to Pier 11 on the Rock­away route. 

Gov­er­nors Island has under­gone a tremen­dous trans­for­ma­tion over the last decade, includ­ing the cre­ation of a resilient 43-acre park, a grow­ing arts and cul­tur­al pro­gram, and remark­able growth in audi­ence. In 2019, near­ly one mil­lion peo­ple vis­it­ed the Island. The Island is home to a diverse num­ber of year-round ten­ants, includ­ing the Urban Assem­bly New York Har­bor School, the Low­er Man­hat­tan Cul­tur­al Coun­cil, the Bil­lion Oys­ter Project, Shan­dak­en Projects, Beam Cen­ter, and the Insti­tute for Pub­lic Archi­tec­ture, as well as the soon to open QC NY Spa and But­ter­milk Labs — a new mul­ti-ten­ant hub for coastal cli­mate solu­tions announced in Fall, 2021. In June 2021, the Trust announced a com­pe­ti­tion to attract an anchor edu­ca­tion­al and research insti­tu­tion for its plans to devel­op a Cen­ter for Cli­mate Solutions. 

“This is a great day for New York­ers, 20 years after fight­ing to return Gov­er­nors Island to New York, year round fer­ry ser­vice and 7 day access to Gov­er­nors Island is final­ly here,” said US Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Jer­ry Nadler. ​“The island is one of the city’s hid­den gems and now res­i­dents and tourists alike will have an oppor­tu­ni­ty to explore and vis­it this won­der­ful place every day.”

“Over the past two years we have learned just how impor­tant the acces­si­bil­i­ty of our city’s open pub­lic spaces are to the health and well­be­ing of all New York­ers,” said Man­hat­tan Bor­ough Pres­i­dent Mark Levine. ​“Open­ing dai­ly fer­ry ser­vice year-round to Gov­er­nors Island will unlock one of New York’s great cen­ters of open space and is anoth­er giant step for increased inclu­sion to all our city’s won­der­ful parks. I thank the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island, the Mayor’s office, and NYCEDC for their tremen­dous work in mak­ing this long-stand­ing plan a real­i­ty and encour­age all New York­ers to dis­cov­er all Gov­er­nors Island has to offer even in the cold­er months.”

“Hav­ing dai­ly, year-round fer­ry ser­vice will not only expand access to Gov­er­nors Island for res­i­dents and vis­i­tors alike, it will open the door for more Brook­lynites to enjoy this fan­tas­tic New York trea­sure,” said Brook­lyn Bor­ough Pres­i­dent Anto­nio Reynoso. ​“Expand­ed fer­ry ser­vice also means increased access to the incred­i­bly rich and diverse neigh­bor­hoods in South Brook­lyn and along the Brook­lyn water­front, which opens up new oppor­tu­ni­ties to dis­cov­er every­thing Brook­lyn has to offer. This is a win-win for all New York­ers and I am proud that Brook­lyn will play an inte­gral part in this excit­ing new amenity.”

“I am excit­ed to wel­come expand­ed NYC Fer­ry ser­vice to Gov­er­nors Island, sup­port­ing the Island’s year-round access for all New York­ers. I have long advo­cat­ed for addi­tion­al fer­ry ser­vice and I allo­cat­ed funds in the State bud­get to expand ser­vice this past sum­mer, so I am par­tic­u­lar­ly grat­i­fied that the City and the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island will be adding new fer­ry ser­vice for res­i­dents of Brook­lyn and the Low­er East Side,” said State Sen­a­tor Bri­an Kavanagh, who rep­re­sents­Gov­er­nors Island, Low­er Man­hat­tan, and west­ern Brook­lyn. ​“I hope that year-round access and more rou­tine fer­ry ser­vice, tak­en togeth­er, will serve to increase people’s aware­ness of Gov­er­nors Island as a great trea­sure in our midst — and make it far eas­i­er for every­one to access the wide-open spaces, breath­tak­ing views, and his­toric archi­tec­ture, dur­ing every season.”

“With fer­ry stops added in Red Hook and Sun­set Park, more of our fam­i­lies will be able to enjoy Gov­er­nor’s Island and all that it offers, espe­cial­ly dur­ing the sum­mer months,” said Coun­cil Mem­ber Alexa Avilés. ​“The fer­ry sys­tem is just a piece of pro­vid­ing reli­able pub­lic trans­porta­tion in our dis­trict and around the city. I look for­ward to con­tin­ued expan­sion of our trans­porta­tion net­work, espe­cial­ly through reduc­ing fares and ful­ly inte­grat­ing with the MTA as our neigh­bor­hoods con­tin­ue to recov­er from the pandemic.” 

“I’m glad Low­er East Siders, and many oth­er New York­ers, will have greater access to our dis­tric­t’s largest park on Gov­er­nors Island,” said Coun­cil Mem­ber Christo­pher Marte. ​“We des­per­ate­ly lack green space in the Low­er East Side, and this expand­ed fer­ry line is a good step toward mak­ing the pub­lic ameni­ties and resources of our city more equitable.”

“Gov­er­nors Island is one of the great pub­lic spaces in the mid­dle of the most spec­tac­u­lar har­bor in the world,” said Coun­cil Mem­ber Lin­coln Restler. ​“While it is a stone’s throw away from our water­front, Brook­lynites will final­ly have dai­ly, year round, afford­able access via fer­ry stops in DUM­BO, Cob­ble Hill, and Red Hook!”

“Brook­lyn Com­mu­ni­ty Board 6 is very pleased to see that what we’ve long sup­port­ed – Red Hook as a fer­ry stop with year-round access to Gov­er­nors Island – is now the real­i­ty,” said Michael Raciop­po, Brook­lyn Com­mu­ni­ty Board 6 Dis­trict Man­ag­er.

“With Gov­er­nors Island now open 365 days a year, the need for more direct fer­ry con­nec­tions has nev­er been more crit­i­cal,” said Mer­ritt Birn­baum, Exec­u­tive Direc­tor of the Friends of Gov­er­nors Island. ​“Becom­ing a reg­u­lar dai­ly stop on the South Brook­lyn line makes it pos­si­ble for the Island to be part of every­day life for more New York­ers. Now for the first time res­i­dents of Red Hook, the Low­er East Side, and oth­er water­front neigh­bor­hoods will be just a few min­utes away from the extra­or­di­nary open space, ameni­ties and pro­gram­ming that make Gov­er­nors Island such a ter­rif­ic pub­lic resource.”