The East 34th Street Ferry Landing provides

slips Slips (or SLIPS) may refer to: *Slips (oil drilling) *SLIPS (Slippery Liquid Infused Porous Surfaces) *SLIPS (company) *SLIPS (Sri Lanka Interbank Payment System) *Slip (cricket), often used in the plural form *The Slips, a UK electronic music duo ...

ferries A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water tax ...

and

excursion An excursion is a trip by a group of people, usually made for leisure, education, or physical purposes. It is often an adjunct to a longer journey or visit to a place, sometimes for other (typically work-related) purposes. Public transportatio ...

boats in the

Port of New York and New Jersey The Port of New York and New Jersey is the port district of the New York-Newark metropolitan area, encompassing the region within approximately a radius of the Statue of Liberty National Monument. It includes the system of navigable water ...

. It is located on the

East River The East River is a saltwater tidal estuary in New York City. The waterway, which is actually not a river despite its name, connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates the borough of Quee ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

east of the FDR Drive just north of East 34th Street in Midtown Manhattan. The facility, owned by the city, received

Federal Highway Administration The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is a division of the United States Department of Transportation that specializes in highway transportation. The agency's major activities are grouped into two programs, the Federal-aid Highway Program ...

funding for improvements for docking facilities and upgrading the adjacent

East River Greenway The East River Greenway (also called the East River Esplanade) is an approximately foreshoreway for walking or cycling on the east side of the island of Manhattan on the East River. It is part of the Manhattan Waterfront Greenway. The largest po ...

in 2008. A new terminal building was built and opened in 2016. Service is provided by SeaStreak, which signs the landing as East 35th Street, and by

NYC Ferry NYC Ferry is a public network of ferry routes in New York City operated by Hornblower Cruises. , there are six routes, as well as one seasonal route, connecting 25 ferry piers across all five boroughs. NYC Ferry has the largest passenger fleet ...

, which signs it as East 34th Street/Midtown. There is a M34 Select Bus Service bus stop adjacent to the ferry landing; the M15 local, M15 Select Bus Service and the M34A Select Bus Service have stops in the immediate vicinity at the intersection of First Avenue and East 34th Street. The East 34th Street Heliport is also on the waterfront south of the ferry landing.

History

A ferry crossing between Hunter's Point and 34th Street was established circa 1858 and later came under the control of Long Island Rail Road (LIRR). In 1905, the LIRR expanded the terminal between 33rd and 34th Streets which had five

and was able to accommodate automobiles, and is now the site of the heliport. Service was discontinued in 1925 after numerous tunnel and bridge crossings had been built. Connecting mass transit service was provided by the 34th Street Ferry elevated station which was located east of First Avenue and operated from 1880 to 1930. In the 1990s several proposals and various attempts were made to restore service to landings in the vicinity of 34th Street, among them an

Upper East Side The Upper East Side, sometimes abbreviated UES, is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 96th Street to the north, the East River to the east, 59th Street to the south, and Central Park/Fifth Avenue to the wes ...

– Wall Street commuter service, a short-lived shuttle to

La Guardia Airport LaGuardia Airport is a civil airport in East Elmhurst, Queens, New York City. Covering , the facility was established in 1929 and began operating as a public airport in 1939. It is named after former New York City mayor Fiorello La Guardia. ...

and a fast ferry to Staten Island. Restoration of the traditional Hunters Point crossing was initiated and soon abandoned by

NY Waterway NY Waterway (or New York Waterway) is a private transportation company running ferry and bus service in the Port of New York and New Jersey and in the Hudson Valley. The company utilizes public-private partnership with agencies such as the Port ...

. By the mid-2000s

New York Water Taxi New York Water Taxi (NYWT) is a water taxi service based in New York City. It offers sightseeing, charter and commuter services mainly to points along the East River and Hudson River. It is one of several private operators of ferries, sightseei ...

was regularly serving East 34th Street landings on the Hunters Point crossing and other routes. After a request for bids, the

New York City Economic Development Corporation New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) is a nonprofit corporation whose stated mission is to "leverage the city’s assets to create beneficial jobs that drive growth. This ensures equitable and sustainable development across al ...

in 2011 awarded

(which also operated a free transfer bus loop in Midtown East) a three-year contract and a $3 million annual subsidy to operate ferry service on the East River including 34th Street. In the aftermath of infrastructure damage and service disruptions to the New York City Subway system in

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

and

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

caused by

Hurricane Sandy Hurricane Sandy (unofficially referred to as ''Superstorm Sandy'') was an extremely destructive and strong Atlantic hurricane, as well as the largest Atlantic hurricane on record as measured by diameter, with tropical-storm-force winds spann ...

on October 29, 2012, SeaStreak began running weekday ferry service between East 34th Street and

Rockaway Park, Queens Rockaway Park is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. The area is on the Rockaway Peninsula, nestled between Jamaica Bay to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the south. The neighborhood of Rockaway Beach lies on its eastern b ...

, with additional stops at Pier 11 and

Brooklyn Army Terminal The Brooklyn Army Terminal (BAT) is a large warehouse complex in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, New York City. The site occupies more than between 58th and 63rd Streets west of Second Avenue, on Brooklyn's western shore. The complex was originally u ...

. Although the service proved popular, it was ultimately discontinued on October 31, 2014 when the city government declined to continue subsidizing it.

Service

SeaStreak

SeaStreak catamarans operate daily to the

Raritan Bayshore The Raritan Bayshore region of New Jersey is a subregion of the larger Jersey Shore. It is the area around Raritan Bay from The Amboys to Sandy Hook, in Monmouth and Middlesex counties, including the towns of Woodbridge, Perth Amboy, South Amboy, ...

Monmouth County, New Jersey Monmouth County () is a county located on the coast of central New Jersey. The county is part of the New York metropolitan area and is situated along the northern half of the Jersey Shore. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the county's population wa ...

. After calling at

Pier 11/Wall Street Pier 11/Wall Street is a pier providing slips to ferries and excursion boats on the East River in the Port of New York and New Jersey. It is located east of South Street and FDR Drive just south of Wall Street in Lower Manhattan, New York City ...

boats continue through

The Narrows __NOTOC__ The Narrows is the tidal strait separating the boroughs of Staten Island and Brooklyn in New York City, United States. It connects the Upper New York Bay and Lower New York Bay and forms the principal channel by which the Hudson Riv ...

to terminals at Atlantic Highlands or

Highlands Highland is a broad term for areas of higher elevation, such as a mountain range or mountainous plateau. Highland, Highlands, or The Highlands, may also refer to: Places Albania * Dukagjin Highlands Armenia * Armenian Highlands Australia *Sou ...

. Seasonal

s includes service to

Sandy Hook Sandy Hook is a barrier spit in Middletown Township, Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. The barrier spit, approximately in length and varying from wide, is located at the north end of the Jersey Shore. It encloses the southern ...

, West Point, NY, Cold Spring, NY, and Martha's Vineyard.

New York Water Taxi

operates a shuttle service for NYU Langone Health between 34th Street and the Brooklyn Army Terminal. This service is primarily for hospital employees only and provides a connection between its academic medical center in Manhattan and

NYU Langone Hospital – Brooklyn NYU Langone Hospital – Brooklyn is a full-service, 450-bed academic teaching hospital in the Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City. Formerly named NYU Lutheran Medical Center, it functions as the hub of Lutheran Healthcare, which ...

NYC Ferry

East River Ferry NYC Ferry is a public network of ferry routes in New York City operated by Hornblower Cruises. , there are six routes, as well as one seasonal route, connecting 25 ferry piers across all five boroughs. NYC Ferry has the largest passenger fleet ...

(formerly operated by

) operates in both directions to Pier 11 at Wall Street, stopping at Hunters Point South in Long Island City, Queens and multiple ferry landings in northern

, with year-round service Additionally, the Astoria Ferry runs in both directions to Pier 11 or

Astoria, Queens Astoria is a neighborhood in the western portion of the New York City borough of Queens. Astoria is bounded by the East River and is adjacent to three other Queens neighborhoods: Long Island City to the southwest, Sunnyside to the southeast ...

, with year-round service. The Lower East Side Ferry used to operate between Long Island City and Wall Street via eastern Manhattan year-round, but was then discontinued on May 18, 2020 due to extremely low ridership. The Soundview Route runs in both directions to Wall Street or Soundview, Bronx, year-round.

References

External links

Flickr: East 34th Street Ferry Landing
{{Midtown East, Manhattan Ferry terminals in Manhattan Port of New York and New Jersey Transit hubs serving New Jersey Kips Bay, Manhattan 34th Street (Manhattan)