Riverdale Ferry Coalition

Ed Koch was the mayor when passengers boarded the first and last ferry boat to travel between Riverdale and Manhattan. The catamaran operated by New York Waterways tied up at the Riverdale Yacht Club for a one-time show-and-tell organized by Councilwoman June Eisland. The councilwoman was enthusiastic about ferries: her first-ever resolution after being sworn in, in 1979, called for the revival of ferry service between New York and New Jersey. She had clout: by the time she sponsored that experimental ride from Riverdale she was chair of the transportation committee and she had succeeded in breaking through bureaucratic encrustation to permit New York Waterways to inaugurate its cross-river service.

So as ferry service becomes an issue in the discussion of congestion pricing and in the upcoming campaign to elect a new representative to the City Council, it’s worth pondering why the Hudson did not become a highway for Riverdale commuters and whether it ever will or should be.

To its supporters, a ferry stop is a nobrainer. "It’s an idea whose time has come," says Ari Hoffnung, founder of the grandlynamed Riverdale Ferry Coalition, who deserves the credit for making ferry service an issue of widespread public discussion.

"I’m excited about it. The more people I speak to, the more excited I get," he said in a recent interview. "No one says, ‘You’re crazy; no one is going to take it.’"

What makes this a moment of opportunity, according to Mr. Hoffnung, Councilman Oliver Koppell and other proponents of a ferry stop, is the inauguration of ferry service from Yonkers. The bright yellow vessels operated by New Water Taxi have seats that the company wants to fill.

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