Staten Island fast ferry under used

A file photo shows the Water Taxi ferry, which used to serve Gateway Park, Great Kills. Local elected officials want the city to include the South Shore of Staten Island in a citywide ferry plan.

(Staten Island Advance file photo/Irving Silverstein)

CITY HALL -- Docks for Mayor Bill de Blasio's new ferry system are being built on Staten Island, but the borough won't get one of its own anytime soon.

May Shipyard in Mariners Harbor is in the middle of constructing 10 new ferry landings for the so-called "five borough" network that doesn't actually include Staten Island yet.

Service to Stapleton is part of a proposed phase of the system's roll out that hasn't been funded or scheduled.

The city announced on Wednesday that California-based Hornblower won the contract to operate the system, intended to decrease commute times and go to areas underserved by mass transit.

"We know that for too many years there have been some neighborhoods that have really been challenged just because of geography," de Blasio said.

Routes to Rockaway, South Brooklyn and Astoria in Queens will launch in 2017 and those going to Soundview in the Bronx and Manhattan's Lower East Side will start in 2018.

Mayor Bill de Blasio's fast ferry system for New York City.

Locals continue to be perplexed and -- in some cases -- insulted by the ferry location proposed for Staten Island. Though Stapleton is poised for development, the neighborhood is already well-serviced by the Staten Island Railway and the free ferry going from St. George to lower Manhattan.

They're confused why the South Shore -- where residents have some of the longest commutes in the country -- or less accessible places on the Island weren't included in de Blasio's plan. Borough President James Oddo wants the city to study potential ferry dock locations as far west on the North Shore as Port Richmond, and on the South Shore, potentially in Prince's Bay.

While the mayor increased off-peak Staten Island Ferry service last year, his administration has proposed virtually no new mass transit options for the borough. The city is planning to build a $2.5 billion streetcar connecting Brooklyn and Queens, though.

WHAT ABOUT STATEN ISLAND?

De Blasio continued to defend the ferry plan on Wednesday, and "respectfully" shrugged off the Advance's question about potentially expanding the system beyond the North Shore.

"This is a citywide ferry service that's going to connect Staten Islanders to a lot of other options they don't have now. It's not the same as a point-to-point Staten Island Ferry. It just isn't -- it's different," he said. "So I, again, reject the notion there's any lack of focus. It's a five-borough plan."

Trips on the citywide ferry system will be pegged to the cost of a single subway ride, and officials are hoping to integrate fares with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

The city will put up $30 million in operating support annually for the six-year contract with Hornblower.

Some 4.6 million people are projected to use the system annually, making the city subsidy $6.60 per rider. The Staten Island Ferry is free and the subsidy is about $5.87.

The 10 new landings being built on Staten Island as well as rehabilitation work on six others will cost the city $55 million. Another $10 million in city money will be used for additional startup costs.

Hornblower already operates ferries to the former prison on Alcatraz Island in the San Francisco Bay as well as cruises to the Statue of Liberty and within New York Harbor.

New York Water Taxi said last week that losing the bid for the ferry system will force the company to go out of business and hit the city for subsidizing the Staten Island Ferry.

De Blasio stressed on Wednesday that New York Water Taxi lost a "competition" against Hornblower.