Mayor christens new ferry route from Astoria to UES

NYC Ferry boats dock Long Island City. Photo courtesy of NYC Ferry

By David Brand

Mayor Bill de Blasio drove to Astoria Friday to christen new ferry service between Western Queens and the Upper East Side.

The service extension on the NYC Ferry’s Astoria line began last weekend and attracted 3,300 customers, de Blasio said. 

“We know as more and more people hear about it, learn about it, more and more people will be a part of it,” he said. “They said in a movie once, ‘If you build it, they will come.’ I have no question people will come in droves to take advantage of this new opportunity to be connected to all of this great city.”

The Astoria line begins at Pier 11 at Wall Street and Lower Manhattan and steams up the East River, with a stop in Long Island City. The ferries depart every 28 minutes and shuttle a few dozen people across the river at a time.

The extension will allow Astoria residents to more easily travel to Manhattan, by “getting on a ferry right here at your doorstep and being connected to the whole rest of the city,” de Blasio said.