No wonder only rich people own yachts. Operating costs for the city's ferries increased by 50% last fiscal year as the system expanded to reach farther-flung locations and officials filled service with chartered vessels.

The Economic Development Corp. spent $44 million running boats in fiscal 2018, according to recently released budget documents, up from $30 million the year before. That jump occurred because the number of routes increased from three to six, including sojourns to Soundview in the Bronx and southern Brooklyn. The frequency of trips also added to fuel costs, the city said. Over the same time period, ridership increased from 1.8 million people to 4.1 million.

While the network has proved popular with residents, tourists and elected officials, it also has been expensive to get off the ground. For the past two fiscal years combined, the per-rider cost to the city was $8.96. Passengers themselves pay $2.75, the same as a MetroCard swipe. The development corporation declined to provide per-rider subsidies for individual fiscal years but noted that the metric went up slightly.

"Like any popular startup, initial costs will always be higher than they are in the long run," a spokeswoman said in a statement. "The incremental difference in operating costs is mainly attributed to increased service that was needed to meet ridership demand that surpassed our initial projections."

In particular, the city had to charter private boats to cover some of the routes as it waited for all 23 of the vessels it has ordered using $84.4 million in capital dollars, part of hundreds of millions dedicated to the network. James Patchett, head of the corporation, said in May that once those ships come in and chartered vessels are eliminated, the city hopes to be closer to its ultimate goal of getting the subsidy to $6.60 per rider, which he noted is in line with other forms of transportation, such as the Long Island Rail Road.

However, some reports have dinged the initiative as an expensive way to serve relatively few riders. For example, even the mayor's ridership projection of 9 million people by 2023 would put the entire ferry system on par with the 15th busiest bus route, according to an article in the Village Voice, which also suggested that most ferry riders were affluent New Yorkers who live in pricey waterfront apartments. The city pushed back against that characterization and said that the Voice's rider survey was done during more traditional working hours and before routes to the lower-income areas of Soundview and the Lower East Side were launched.