“We won’t run a program until we feel it would be a safe program,” said Ms. Michalek, as neophyte paddlers queued up on Saturday afternoon to try the yellow, plastic kayaks. After participating in a trial run of a ferry to and from the Astoria dock last week, Ms. Michalek said the decision on whether it would be too hazardous to continue was “still up in the air.”

Peter Flynt, a co-director of the ferry service for the city’s Economic Development Corporation, said officials had been meeting with members of the community for two years to try to balance their concerns with the benefits of linking waterfront neighborhoods across the city. He said the decisions on where to locate the dock and how to orient it were made to “reduce the complexity” of getting boats in and out so there would be “less probability of something going wrong.”

Judging by the reception one of the ferries received when it made a trial run to Astoria on Monday, there is pent-up demand in the neighborhood, which surrounds the Astoria Houses public-housing complex. As soon as Mr. Clark and Mr. Flynt stepped off the boat — the Lunch Box — a voice called out asking when the service would begin.

The query came from Sheila Kouakou-Bland, a neighborhood resident who was visiting family at the Astoria Houses. “This is wonderful,” she said as she peered through the locked gate. “I’m going to be the first one to ride it.”

She said the ferry would provide her 20-year-old son, Karl, with a faster, more pleasant route to classes at the Borough of Manhattan Community College near the World Trade Center. Karl, like most local residents who need to reach Manhattan, takes a “packed-out” bus to the nearest station on the subway’s F line, she said.