West Midtown Ferry Terminal

The West Midtown Ferry Terminal is a passenger bus and ferry terminal serving ferries along the Hudson River in New York City and northeastern New Jersey. It is located at Piers 78 and 79 in Hudson River Park adjacent to the West Side Highway at West 39th Street in Midtown Manhattan.[1][2] The facility first opened in 1986 with the start of NY Waterway commuter ferry service.[4] In 2005, the facility was overhauled to accommodate an increasing demand for ferry service in the Port of New York and New Jersey and to provide ferry slips for short haul crossings, water taxis, and high-speed long-distance service.[5][6][7][8]

West Midtown Ferry Terminal
Ferry terminal
LocationPiers 78-79,[1][2] 459 Twelfth Avenue
Manhattan, New York
United States
Coordinates40°45′37.57″N 74°0′12.57″W
Owned byCity of New York[1][2]
Operated byNY Waterway[3]
Line(s)NY Waterway
Connections New York City Bus: M12, M42, M50
Construction
Disabled access
History
Opened1986[4]
Services
Future service
Preceding station   NYC Ferry   Following station
toward St. George
St. George
Begins 2021
Terminus

Built largely with public funds, the West Midtown terminal is owned by the city and leased to NY Waterway,[1][2][3] which operates ferries to eight destinations in Jersey City, Hoboken, Weehawken, Edgewater, and Belford. The ferry service refers to the terminal as Midtown / West 39th Street in scheduling. As a public terminal, the facility is open to any ferry company.[6] The 2005 renovation was built by the New York City Economic Development Corporation.[6]

The terminal is located on a narrow strip of land west of Hudson River Park and the West Side Highway, also known as Twelfth Avenue). Its construction required the incorporation of the ventilation towers of the Lincoln Tunnel built in the 1930s. Clad in glass, it contains six ferry slips as well as a passenger ticketing area and waiting room.[5]

History
South side

The Weehawken was the last ferry to the West Shore Railroad's Weehawken Terminal on March 25, 1959 at 1:10 am.,[9] ending a century of continuous service from 42nd Street. In 1981 Arthur Edward Imperatore, Sr., trucking magnate, purchased a 2.5-mile (4.0 km) length of the Weehawken waterfront from the bankrupt Penn Central for $7.5 million and in 1986 established New York Waterway,[10] with a route across the river that roughly paralleled the older one. Initially, the ferry slip at Pier 78 was a makeshift affair with limited, yet increasing ridership.

After the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center destroyed the PATH terminal located there cross-Hudson passenger capacity was greatly reduced, and ferry service was expanded to compensate. NY Waterway borrowed heavily to acquire new vessels to add new routes and add more runs to schedules. City and state agencies contracted the construction of new ferry terminals to be leased to private operators, of which the West Midtown is one. With the restoration of rapid transit service, riderships numbers dropped significantly. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey brokered a deal to avoid bankruptcy and disruption of service.[11][12]

Services

Ferry
A NY Waterway ferry docked at the terminal

NY Waterway commuter ferries connect to several New Jersey terminals, reaching Lincoln Harbor, Weehawken Port Imperial, Hoboken 14th Street, and Harborside 7 days a week.[13][14][15][16] Hoboken Terminal and Paulus Hook Ferry Terminal are also served 7 days a week except weekday off-peak hours (middays and evenings),[17][18] and Edgewater Landing is also served during weekday rush hours.[19]

NY Waterway high-speed ferries make the hour-long journey to Belford in Monmouth County during the weekday rush hours as well, also calling at Paulus Hook, Brookfield Place Terminal, and Pier 11/Wall Street.[20]

Bus

NY Waterway maintains a fleet of buses which provide free connecting service to the ferry that run on peak[21] and off peak routes[22] in Manhattan below 59th Street. New York City transit buses M42 and M50 stop in the vicinity of the terminal at 42nd Street.

Future service

Service on the St. George route of the NYC Ferry system will begin in 2020. Ferries will make an intermediate stop at Brookfield Place Terminal in Battery Park City before terminating at St. George Terminal on Staten Island.[23][24][25][26]

Terminal is adjacent to West Street and Manhattan Waterfront Greenway.

See also

References
  1. "West Midtown Ferry Terminal (Pier 78)" (PDF). New York City Department of City Planning. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
  2. "West Midtown Ferry Terminal (Pier 79)" (PDF). New York City Department of City Planning. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
  3. "Ferry Transportation Information". Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
  4. "About Us". NY Waterway. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
  5. "Various Projects". William Nicholas Bodouva + Associates. Retrieved December 30, 2016.
  6. McGeehan, Patrick (October 21, 2005). "New and Flashy, Big and Glassy". The New York Times. Retrieved January 11, 2019.
  7. Barr, Wilma (May 2007), "Jewel on the Hudson" (PDF), Lighting Design and Application, 37 (5): 48
  8. "Midtown / W. 39th St". NY Waterway. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
  9. Arthur G. Adams (1996). The Hudson Through the Years. Fordham University Press. ISBN 978-0-8232-1676-5.
  10. Carroll, Timothy J. (2009-10-11). "20 years crossing the Hudson". The Jersey City Reporter. Hoboken: Hudson Reporter. pp. 7 & 16. Retrieved 2010-05-07.
  11. Golway, Terry (December 19, 2004). "Transportation; Mutiny on the Hudson". The New York Times.
  12. McGeehan, Patrick (February 15, 2005). "Port Authority Picks Lawyer To Run Ferries on Hudson". The New York Times.
  13. Lincoln Harbor schedule
  14. Port Imperial
  15. 14th Street Hoboken schedule
  16. Harborside schedule
  17. BPC/WFC-Hoboken Terminal schedule
  18. Paulus Hook schedule
  19. Edgewater Landing
  20. New York Waterway routes
  21. NY Waterway Peak Manhattan bus map
  22. NY Waterway Off-peak Manhattan bus routes
  23. "Routes and Schedules: St. George". NYC Ferry.
  24. "NYC Ferry is adding 2 new routes". am New York. January 10, 2019. Retrieved January 11, 2019.
  25. Plitt, Amy (January 10, 2019). "NYC Ferry will launch service to Staten Island, Coney Island". Curbed NY. Retrieved January 11, 2019.
  26. "2020-2021 Expansion". New York City Ferry Service. Retrieved January 11, 2019.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.