NY WATERWAY CELEBRATES ITS 35th ANNIVERSARY TODAY, MARKING A HISTORY OF RELIABLE TRANSIT SERVICE AND HEROIC RESCUES

Founded December 3, 1986 with just one boat between Weehawken and Midtown, NY Waterway has carried more than 200 million riders

​WEEHAWKEN, NJ (December 3, 2021)—Today NY Waterway celebrates a major milestone: 35 years of providing safe, comfortable and environmentally responsible commuter ferry service. Now the largest privately owned and operated ferry service in the nation, NY Waterway has carried more than 200 million passengers since its launch and has sparked a renaissance of ferry travel all across the region.

NY Waterway has earned international renown for its role in water rescues big and small, most notably in history’s largest maritime evacuation on 9/11 and its response to the scene of the Miracle on the Hudson.

In 1986, founder Arthur E. Imperatore began with just one ferry which carried 26 passengers on its first day. Today, as the region recovers from COVID-19, NY Waterway carries thousands of riders every day and operates 12 routes between New Jersey and Manhattan, and between Rockland and Westchester counties, and between Orange and Dutchess counties. But despite its growth, NY Waterway remains a family-run company that prioritizes customer service.

“When my dad launched the old Port Imperial Ferry 30 years ago today, I don’t think anyone could have predicted it would lead to a regionwide renaissance of ferry service,” said Armand Pohan, Chairman, President and CEO of NY Waterway. “We would not have been able to get here without our dedicated captains, crews and, most importantly, our loyal customers. Thank you to all who support us—we are as committed to you as you are to us.”

NY Waterway has a storied history providing critical evacuation and rescues, and stepping in to provide redundant transit service during emergencies:

In 1990, when a nor’easter flooded PATH tubes under the Hudson River, NY Waterway ferries provided service between the World Financial Ferry Terminal in Lower Manhattan and the Hoboken Rail/Ferry Terminal.

In 1993, when the first World Trade Center bombing shut down PATH service, NY Waterway ferries again provided the necessary transit link between Lower Manhattan and New Jersey.

On 9/11, NY Waterway ferries evacuated more than 150,000 people from Manhattan as part of the largest maritime evacuation in history. For weeks, ferries were the only transit link between New Jersey and Lower Manhattan, carrying more than 60,000 passengers per day.  NY Waterway ferries played a critical role in getting people to work so New York City’s financial markets could reopen just six days after the 9/11 attacks.

After the 2003 blackout, NY Waterway ferries were the only transit link between Manhattan and New Jersey, carrying 160,000 people in one day.

In the 2009 Miracle on the Hudson, NY Waterway ferries rescued almost all the passengers from U.S. Air Flight 1549, the most successful marine rescue in aviation history. Additionally, NY Waterway ferry crews have rescued more than 100 people from the Hudson River in other incidents.

Visit https://www.nywaterway.com/ for more information.
   
Get updates at 1-800-53-FERRY (7-11am Monday thru Friday), nywaterway.com,  facebook.com/nywaterway or twitter.com/ridetheferry.