Results tagged “newyorkwatertaxi”

New York Water Taxi is acquiring Circle Line Harbor Cruise, which specializes in New York Harbor tours (website; it is often confused with the other Circle Line with the round-Manhattan tours). According to Crain's NY, Circle Line Downtown "suffered a major blow last year when it lost the government contract—representing 75% of its revenues—to ferry passengers to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island." Whereas New York Water Taxi, which has commuter boats, tours, and service to the Red Hook Ikea, has been growing. NYWT head said, “We are growing by leaps and bounds, especially in the tour and travel area. Circle Line gives us the (additional) capacity we need.” The head of Circle Line Downtown, a 54-year-old family-run company, believes its employees will be hired by NYWT.

Retired school principal Elizabeth Mulvihill moved from Long Island to South Williamsburg a couple years ago because she's old and doesn't want to drive anymore. So she dropped $1,040,000 on a two-bedroom apartment in Schaefer Landing, a development on the East River that opened in 2006. At first life was grand, with the New York Water Taxi whisking her away to Manhattan for doctor appointments in 15 minutes. But then the boats stopped running in the winter because the line wasn't profitable. And with the L train a mile away, Mulvihill says she's "stranded" and "depressed." Other tenants at Schaefer Landing are deciding against renewing their leases because of the lack of transportation, and with Depression 2.0 well underway, many are wondering what ever will become of all these optimistic new condos. New York Water Taxi wants a subsidy from the city to keep the South Williamsburg line afloat, and Mulvihill just wants an easy way to get to the doctor. She tells the Times, “I thought this was a safe investment, given the stock market.”

This morning, New York Water Taxi introduced their new commuter ferry route for residents of the Rockaways in Queens. While it's not a straight shot--it stops once at the Brooklyn Army Terminal--it will move up to 400 commuters from Riis Landing to Wall St.'s Pier 11.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a shooting on 120th St. and 3rd Ave. in Manhattan, a stabbing on West 31st St. in Brooklyn, and a fall victim at MoMA in Manhattan.
• The New York Yankees took first place in franchise spending, with a total payroll of $218.3 million last year. The World Series-winning Boston Red Sox payroll totalled $155.4 million to finish a distant second.
• The New York Water Taxi is terminating its South Brooklyn service between Sunset Park, Red Hook, and Wall St. at the end of this month.

New Yorkers still trying to swallow the fare hike that's been approved by the MTA board can at least take heart that entire swaths of services aren't being eliminated. New York Water Taxi commuters are facing the elimination of large parts of that company's East River service from the beginning of 2008 at least until May of next year.

New York Water Taxi regretfully announces the suspension of commuter service on the East River from 1/1/08 to 5/1/08. As you may know, NYWT took over the service in 2003, on short notice, when it was abandoned by another operator. We have added new stops and worked tirelessly to make the run economically viable.

The company is citing a doubling in fuel prices since last year and a drop in ridership that just makes winter and early-spring operations economically nonviable. We have to imagine this is upsetting to residents and developers of spots like the Schaeffer Landing complex, that was touting its new Water Taxi stop right outside its buildings as an antidote to its relative remoteness from any subway stops. At least new residents of Dumbo can still get to the F train comparatively easily.

The Times today has an interesting story on the continuing issues that have been troubling the slowly reemerging commercial ferry business here. Earlier this week New York Water Taxi announced that it was going to have to raise the cost of a trip between Jersey City and Wall Street from $6 to $9, much to the dismay of the 2,000 odd commuters who ride the boats daily. The increase was, the Times says, due to a money-losing two-year-old deal that the company had made with Goldman Sachs allowing the taxis to use one of Goldman's piers in exchange for free rides for Sach's employees during business hours. But just in the nick of time that increase has been laid to rest. Starting on October 2 William Wachtel's BillyBey Ferry Company will step in and take over the route. Even better it will reduce the fare to $5.50!

In the latest sign that Williamsburg is no longer an "up and coming" neighborhood, New York Water Taxi announced yesterday that, starting Monday, July 17th, they are adding service from the one-time hipster haven to Wall Street. Gone are the days of greasy hair, now is the time for those in the finance industry. Well, maybe not. The Williamsburg stop on the ferry's route will be at Schaefer Landing on South 10th Street and run to East 34th Street and Pier 11 near Wall Street. If you were wondering who the target market is, the weekday schedule will tell you - it only runs on business days that the NYSE is open. There will also be weekend service to some of New York Water Taxi's other locations.