The New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) has appointed Steer Davies Gleave to conduct a city-wide ferry study, with the aim of expanding the East River Ferry to other locations.
The study will guide New York City's strategy for expanding the current East River Ferry service between Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan. The current East River Ferry has proven very successful and the City intends to extend service to various other locations.
Steer Davies Gleave will develop the plan for this expansion, identifying the preferred locations, estimating its ridership and revenues, and assist the City in devising a fare structure that will best meet its objectives to encourage waterborne transit. The project will also develop a plan for establishing a potential ferry link to LaGuardia Airport.
An extensive analysis of the economic development impacts of existing ferry service on residential density and property values will also be carried out. Part of this process will include developing a planning tool to estimate land use impacts of new ferry services.
The study is expected to be completed by the end of the year at which point the NYCEDC will have a roadmap for expanding the ferry service that can immediately be put into action.