05/18/2023
Jersey City plans to bring back commuter ferry service to Port Liberte permanently.
Mayor Steve Fulop, Councilwoman Denise Ridley and the Department of Infrastructure announced Wednesday that the city council will consider a resolution next week to award a contract for five-days-a-week service to New York Waterway, the company that handles ferry service between Hudson County and Manhattan.
Officials are hopeful that ferry service there could start as soon as this summer.
The Port Liberte Ferry Terminal was purchased last year with the goal of restoring the only ferry service outside of Downtown, promote ridership, and ensure residents in low- and moderate-income communities have greater access to affordable and efficient transportation options, city officials said.
The new proposed contract calls for Jersey City to pay New York Waterway $4 million in state grant money for three years of service. In February, the city council voted, 8-0, against an $8 million contract with Waterway.
Officials says the discounted fares ($8 each way, 40% less than the previous rate) to and from the Port Liberte terminal are included in the $4 million contract with New York Waterway. The resolution will be introduced at the next city council meeting on May 24.
“We acquired the ferry terminal to have an active role in subsidizing rates and providing greater and more equitable access to critical transportation services that our residents from Greenville to Bergen-Lafayette need,” Fulop said. “We are exceeding our goals in closing transportation gaps and expanding our transit infrastructure through Via Jersey City, which we launched in 2020.
“The Port Liberte Ferry Terminal was previously an underutilized asset. With this resolution, we will make the most of our existing resources and connect residents to the terminal who may not otherwise have access to ferry services.”
New York Waterway had operated out of the Port Liberte Ferry Terminal between 2003 and 2020, when it was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Over those years, the average annual ridership for the route was approximately 83,000 and a one-way fare for adult riders in 2020 was $13.
Last June the city council approved a plan to purchase the terminal for $1. Between August and October, New York Waterway provided service at there as a test, but discontinued it because of low ridership, New York Waterway officials said at the time.
There were approximately 250 trips there per week during that time, Jersey City spokeswoman Kimberly Wallace-Scalcione said.
The city will provide enhanced transit service from the Greenville community to the ferry terminal through Via, the city’s on-demand microtransit service, and expanded Citi Bike stations in the Greenville neighborhood, officials said. The focus of these services will be areas with limited access to public transit.
“Our goal is to increase ridership and ensure a robust service that residents throughout the city can rely on,” said Barkha Patel, director of Jersey City’s Department of Infrastructure. “We are doing that here by leveraging the city’s existing microtransit systems, which have proven to be successful in connecting residents to essential destinations such as major transit hubs, jobs, schools, medical services, and civic institutions.”
Ridley pointed out that the terminal historically has been limited to residents of Port Liberte, due to its relatively isolated location. This plan is expected to “open the doors to additional opportunities for residents, especially in our lower-income areas. This is the type of outside-the-box thinking that is changing the way municipalities approach long-standing systemic issues and social equity overall,” she said.
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