New York Water Taxi

New York Water Taxi
Locale	New York City and Yonkers, New York
Waterway	East River, Flushing Bay, Hell Gate, Hudson River, New York Harbor, Buttermilk Channel, Erie Basin, Upper New York Bay, The Narrows, Lower New York Bay, Rockaway Inlet, West Channel
Transit type	Water taxi
Began operation	September 24th, 2001
No. of lines	7
No. of vessels	14
No. of terminals	16
Daily ridership	Approximately 1,370
Owner	Douglas Durst Tom Fox
Website	New York Water Taxi
Operator	New York Water Taxi

New York Water Taxi is a water taxi service offering commuter and sightseeing service mainly to points along the East River and the Hudson River. It should not be confused with the Liberty Water Taxi, a separate service that also operates on the Hudson River.

On November 3rd, 2008 New York Water Taxi purchased Circle Line Downtown, a sightseeing and harbor cruise company that operates in New York Harbor, and together with Water Taxi Beach formed the Harbor Experience Companies.^[1]

Vessels

New York Water Taxi operates a fleet of 14 vessels of three distinct types with most of them being named for what the company refers to as "New York's civic heroes". The Ed Rogowsky, Gene Flatow, Marian's Heiskell, Sam Holmes, and Seymour B. Durst vessels are capable of carrying up to 149 passengers at a speed of 26 knots, while the Curt Berger, John Keith, Michael Mann, Mickey Murphy, and Schuyler Meyer Jr. vessels are capable of carrying up to 74 passengers at 24 knots. The American Princess used only on the Rockaway service is capable of carrying up to 250 passengers. All vessels can sustain massive amounts of abuse from the elements, and every vessel (except for the American Princess, which is monohulled) is a catamaran.

Commuter services

New York Water Taxi currently operates four commuter services:

• The East River Commuter Service serving:
  • The Hunters Point Pier (Water Taxi Beach and the Long Island City Long Island Rail Road station) in Queens
  • The East 35th Street Pier in Kips Bay, Manhattan
  • The Schaefer Landing in Williamsburg, Brooklyn
  • The Fulton Ferry Landing in Brooklyn
  • The Wall Street Ferry Pier at the Financial District in Manhattan
• The IKEA Express Service serving:
  • The Wall Street Ferry Pier at the Financial District in Manhattan
  • The IKEA Pier in Red Hook, Brooklyn

The American Princess arriving at the Brooklyn Army Terminal pier on the Rockaway ferry's maiden voyage.

• The Rockaway Beach and Commuter Service serving:
  • The Wall Street Ferry Pier at the Financial District in Manhattan
  • The Brooklyn Army Terminal in Sunset Park, Brooklyn
  • The US Coast Guard's Riis Landing in Roxbury, Queens
• The Yonkers Commuter Service serving:
  • The Yonkers Pier (Yonkers Metro-North Railroad and Amtrak station)
  • The West 39th Street Pier in Clinton, Manhattan
  • The World Financial Center Pier in Battery Park City, Manhattan
  • The Wall Street Ferry Pier at the Financial District in Manhattan

Hop-on/Hop-off service

The Schuyler Meyer Jr. arriving at the Wall Street Ferry Pier.

During the warmer months, the New York Water Taxi also operates a Hop-on/Hop-off service on weekends only primarily for tourists. They sell a Hop-on/Hop-off pass that allows for unlimited travel for a weekends between any of the following stops on the Hop-on/Hop-off service only:

• The West 44th Street Pier in Clinton, Manhattan
• The West 26th Street Pier (Chelsea Piers) in Chelsea, Manhattan
• The Christopher Street Pier in West Village, Manhattan
• The World Financial Center Pier in Battery Park City, Manhattan
• The Battery Park Pier in Battery Park City, Manhattan
• The South Street Seaport Pavilion Pier (Water Taxi Beach) at the Financial District in Manhattan
• The Fulton Ferry Landing in Brooklyn
• The East 35th Street Pier in Kips Bay, Manhattan
• The Hunters Point Pier (Water Taxi Beach and the Long Island City Long Island Rail Road station) in Queens

New York Water Taxi also provides service between the Wall Street Ferry Pier and their Water Taxi Beach at Governors Island whenever there's an event there after the Governors Island Alliance ferry stops running, and free reserved service between the World's Fair Marina in Flushing, Queens and the East 35th Street Pier during the US Open tennis championships provided by Powerade Zero and Venus Williams.

Management

Entrepreneur Tom Fox is the company's President, Real Estate developer Douglas Durst is the company's Chairman, and Travis Noyes is the company's Vice President of sales and marketing. Port Engineer James Caldwell heads the company's engineering department and Captains Robert Haywood and Tom Palendino head the company's Marine Division.

Gallery

A Hop-on/Hop-off boat leaves the Fulton Ferry Landing during the taping of reality TV show Fat March

Boats sitting at the Storage Piers in Red Hook, Brooklyn near the Water Taxi's former pier behind Fairway

The Seymour B. Durst loading passengers at the IKEA Pier in Red Hook

References

External links

• Official site