TIMESLEDGER | QNS.COM | APRIL 22-28, 2022
15
GETTING ON BOARD WITH LINKING LAGUARDIA AND NYC FERRY
BY QUEENS BOROUGH PRESIDENT DONOVAN RICHARDS AND
COUNCIL MEMBER AMANDA FARIAS
For decades, New York City and state lawmakers have
been debating innovative new ways, free of hassle and high
costs, to easily and more efficiently connect all New Yorkers
to LaGuardia Airport. But there is no debate around how
untenable transportation options to and from the airport
currently are for the vast majority of New Yorkers. Whether
you’re traveling by car or by MTA, you’re almost guaranteed
to sit in a sea of snarled highway traffic, pumping
climate-killing clouds of harmful emissions in the process.
It is abundantly clear that we must expand public transit
options that benefit working-class families and the thousands
of New Yorkers who work at the airport, as well as the
environment we all share. To achieve this goal, we need an
option that is affordable and accessible to New Yorkers in
every borough — the obvious answer is NYC Ferry.
We are a city surrounded by water, yet we have never
come close to leveraging our waterways in the manner we
should. Not only can these boats move hundreds of people at
one time, but the NYC Ferry is environmentally friendly. It
takes countless cars off our bridges and roads, furthers our
mission to combat climate change by lowering vehicle-generated
emissions and creates direct connections between
communities that otherwise are difficult to access via bus
or subway.
In our respective roles as Queens borough president and
as chair of the Committee on Economic Development, which
oversees NYC Ferry, we have been advocating for ferry expansion,
outer-borough prioritization, and increasing transit
equity citywide. So when we both saw a ferry proposal
as one of the more than a dozen possible LaGuardia transit
options released by the Port Authority of New York and New
Jersey last month, we knew this was an area in which we
could partner in our shared push for outer-borough transit
equity.
To create direct connections between the Bronx, Brooklyn,
Manhattan, Queens and LaGuardia Airport, we recommend
adding a permanent stop on the NYC Ferry’s Astoria
line, which will give countless residents of Long Island City,
Astoria, Roosevelt Island, the Upper East Side, northwest
Brooklyn and those on all ferry lines that connect at 34th
Street an affordable, inclusive and sustainable method to
access LaGuardia, considered the only major U.S. airport
without direct rail service. The World’s Fair Marina, adjacent
to LaGuardia, has existing infrastructure to support
boating, representing a logical starting place for any community
led conversation about such a plan to establish ferry
service to LaGuardia.
The NYCEDC, which runs the ferry operations, released
a 2018/2019 Feasibility Study on NYC Ferry Expansion,
exploring the possibility of having a NYC Ferry stop at
LaGuardia Airport. While the study stated that, “On average,
a direct ferry would take around the same amount of
time as existing transit options,” we believe the direct and
affordable nature of ferry service to LaGuardia would be a
preferable transit option for larger families, those with disabilities,
those who want to lessen their dependence on cars,
lower-income individuals and airport workers alike.
Anyone who questions the need for new transit options
to connect residents and employees to LaGuardia should
look no further than the economic impacts the airport has
on not just New York City or New York state, but the entire
region. In just the month of February, more than 1.5 million
passengers flew in and out of LaGuardia, which employs
nearly 12,000 people and generated more than $2.3 billion in
total wages in 2020.
We have to, as local leaders, explore more creative solutions
for how we can best meet the needs of our city’s most
in-need families, as our already strained roadway and public
transit networks have been pushed to the brink. The
idea to add a NYC Ferry stop at LaGuardia onto the existing
Astoria Ferry line should act as a catalyst for thinking
more boldly to meet New Yorkers where they are. We need
to explore how we can get Bronxites and Brooklynites alike
to LaGuardia and beyond so that every corner of our city is
accessible to everyone. If we’re serious about being a leader
in recovery, resiliency, accessibility and modern transportation,
it’s time to think outside the box.
Expanding ferry service to LaGuardia Airport brings
with it numerous benefits that cannot be ignored. We urge
our colleagues in government at all levels to join us in this
push for expansion and equity.
OP-ED
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