Brooklyn’s New Ferry Will Keep Sailing
When the tunnel that allows the R train to take commuters between Brooklyn and Manhattan was closed earlier this month for necessary post-Sandy repairs, straphangers were forced to crowd onto connecting trains in order to get to lower Manhattan. But then came another way: the ferry that connects Rockaway to Wall Street would make a stop at Pier 4 in Sunset Park, picking up passengers from that neighborhood and bordering Bay Ridge and taking them to the financial district.
The new service was a pilot program, announced to last just one month, but it must have been deemed a success: southern Brooklyn Councilmember Vincent Gentile, who helped bring about the new rush-hour water route, announced on his Facebook page today that the ferry would continue until January 2014—presumably so officials can see if the ferry’s modest success will continue into the colder winter months. After all, right now is a wonderful time to wait on a pier before zipping along the Brooklyn coastline; the same might not be true come Christmastime.
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