Year-round ferry service from Brooklyn to Governors Island begins Monday

January 20, 2022 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

Governors Island. Photo by Trey Pentecost

Share this:

Daily, year-round NYC Ferry service to and from Governors Island will begin on Monday.

NYC Ferry will serve Governors Island’s Yankee Pier via the South Brooklyn Route, adding a stop between Red Hook and Sunset Park, directly connecting New Yorkers to the island from the Brooklyn waterfront, as well as Manhattan’s Lower East Side.

In September 2021, the Trust for Governors Island and the city announced that Governors Island would be open to the public year-round for the first time in history. This new daily, year-round service will accommodate Governors Island’s winter hours from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.

NYC Ferry service to Governors Island on the South Brooklyn route will operate weekdays and non-summer weekends and supplement daily ferries from Lower Manhattan operated by the Trust for Governors Island.

On summer weekends, during the highest ridership season, NYC Ferry will continue to operate its dedicated shuttle from Pier 11 in Lower Manhattan, and the Trust will continue to run its shuttle from Brooklyn Bridge Park-Pier 6 and Red Hook.

When NYC Ferry’s Coney Island route launches in late 2022, the South Brooklyn route will terminate at Governors Island. Bay Ridge will become part of the new Coney Island Route, and Sunset Park will continue to have express service to Pier 11 on the Rockaway route.

Governors Island has undergone a large transformation over the last decade, including the creation of a resilient 43-acre park and a growing arts and cultural program. In 2019, nearly one million people visited the island.

The island is now home to several year-round tenants, including the Urban Assembly New York Harbor School, the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, the Billion Oyster Project, Shandaken Projects, Beam Center and the Institute for Public Architecture, as well as the soon-to-open QC NY Spa and Buttermilk Labs — a new multi-tenant hub for coastal climate solutions announced in fall 2021.

“We’re proud to deliver on the promise of daily, year-round ferry service to Governors Island as part of our continuing expansion of NYC Ferry’s five-borough network, which has become an integral part of New York’s transportation system and the city’s recovery,” said NYCEDC President and CEO Rachel Loeb.

“This past year, we made historic progress in announcing that New Yorkers will now be able to enjoy all that Governors Island has to offer, 365 days per year, and we’re thrilled that we’ll now have expanded connections to Brooklyn and Manhattan through NYC Ferry,” said Clare Newman, president and CEO of the Trust for Governors Island.

“This is a great day for New Yorkers, 20 years after fighting to return Governors Island to New York, year-round ferry service and seven-day access to Governors Island is finally here,” said Congressmember Jerry Nadler (D-Brooklyn-Manhattan).

“Having daily, year-round ferry service will not only expand access to Governors Island for residents and visitors alike, it will open the door for more Brooklynites to enjoy this fantastic New York treasure,” said Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso.

“I have long advocated for additional ferry service and I allocated funds in the state budget to expand service this past summer, so I am particularly gratified that the city and the Trust for Governors Island will be adding new ferry service for residents of Brooklyn and the Lower East Side,” said State Senator Brian Kavanagh, who represents Governors Island, Lower Manhattan and western Brooklyn.

“Governors Island is one of the great public spaces in the middle of the most spectacular harbor in the world,” said Councilmember Lincoln Restler, whose district stretches from Boerum Hill to Greenpoint. “While it is a stone’s throw away from our waterfront, Brooklynites will finally have daily, year-round, affordable access via ferry stops in DUMBO, Cobble Hill, and Red Hook!”

“Brooklyn Community Board 6 is very pleased to see that what we’ve long supported – Red Hook as a ferry stop with year-round access to Governors Island – is now the reality,” said Michael Racioppo, Brooklyn Community Board 6 District Manager.