1964 Staten Island Ferry Schedule between Brooklyn and Staten Island Fees is a photograph by Paul Ward which was uploaded on October 17th, 2023.
1964 Staten Island Ferry Schedule between Brooklyn and Staten Island Fees
Dated: November 20, 1964
The 75‐year‐old ferry service between Brooklyn and Staten Island will be discontinued at midnight Wednesday, its... more
by Paul Ward
Title
1964 Staten Island Ferry Schedule between Brooklyn and Staten Island Fees
Artist
Paul Ward
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Photograph
Description
Dated: November 20, 1964
The 75‐year‐old ferry service between Brooklyn and Staten Island will be discontinued at midnight Wednesday, its usefulness ended by the opening tomorrow of the Verrazano‐Narrows Bridge.
The long‐predicted abandonment of the 1½‐mile run between 69th Street in Brooklyn and St. George, Staten Island, was made official yesterday by the Board of Estimate by a vote of 20 to 2. Albert V. Maniscalco, Richmond Borough President, who has two votes, was the only board member opposed.
The fate of the seven relatively small diesel electric ferryboats that carry about 7,000 commuters a day for a 5cent fare and 8,000 vehicles at a 75‐cent toll, was uncertain. The craft are 17 to 23 years old.
The municipal ferry service between South Ferry and St. George which last year carried 27 million passengers and about 1.8 million vehicles, will continue. In fact, its passenger traffic is expected to increase for the bridge is expected to triple Staten Island's growth in the next decade.
The municipally owned but privately operated Brooklyn service has been operating at a loss for years. Data presented to the board by the Budget Director's office indicated that the service was costing the city more than $600,000 a year and that 96 per cent of its vehicle traffic would be lost to the new bridge with its 50‐cent passenger‐car toll.
The scuttling of the service will put about 140 men out of work but arrangements to cushion the blow have been worked out by management, the city and officials of Local 333, United Marine Division of the National Maritime Union.
Joseph O'Hare, local president, said each of the men would receive about $10,000 in “death” benefits, under the terms of a contract between the union and the operators, the 69th Street Brooklyn Ferry Corporation.
Deputy Mayor Edward F. Cavanagh Jr., who presided at the board hearing, said the city hoped to place some of the men in other jobs and would work out pension and security for the others.
Mr. Cavanagh also noted that bus service across the bridge, which will start soon after the official dedication ceremonies end at 3 P.M. tomorrow, would more than fill the gap left by ending the ferry service.
The board voted $50,000 to the ferry corporation for layup work and safeguarding the boats at the Brooklyn slips.
Mr. Maniscalco based most of his opposition to ending the ferry service on the inconvenience to commuters, including many schoolchildren. He protested, also, the “quick” decision to abandon service saying it gave insufficient time to riders to plan alternate transportation.
One purpose of the Narrows bridge was to eliminate the ferry service that, while admittedly a pleasant interlude, was clouded by long waits to board the boats that have capacity for 42 cars and from 500 to 750 passengers, depending on the size of the craft. The ferry long has been a summer traffic bottleneck for it was chiefly a vehicular operation.
The predicted end of the ferry service will further reduce a phase of port activity that had long become old fashioned. Many ferry services have disappeared in the port here and up the Hudson River in the last 25 years, to be replaced by bridges and tunnels. tunnels.
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October 17th, 2023
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