On Thursday, December 28, Mayor Bill de Blasio said that he doesn’t see any safety issues with the ferry service, and two groundings in just over a month is no sign of danger.
“Human error” was to blame, according to de Blasio, for the two groundings, one of which happened last Wednesday night and left 23 passengers stranded for almost six hours on a sandbar off the Rockaways. The high demand for the ferry service outweighs all of its issues, the mayor insists.
At an unrelated news conference at NYPD headquarters, de Blasio said, “There’s no question it’s safe. We have ample evidence it’s safe, and we’re going to continue to make sure the service is run well. I have no idea why in these two instances specifically these mistakes were made… but you guys, you gotta look at the totality of something that’s now been going on quite a while and has a huge number of riders.”
According to The Post, “Officials wouldn’t say who was at the helm Wednesday. The city’s Economic Development Corp. — which arranged and oversees the NYC Ferry service — said the unidentified captain ‘has been taken off duty pending the outcome of the investigation.’ Co-workers told The Post the captain hadn’t piloted an NYC Ferry boat for some time before Wednesday and may have been unfamiliar with the waters where he ran aground. The captain was brought in to replace the route’s regular captain, an experienced mariner known as ‘Danny,’ who called out ahead of his Wednesday shift, one worker said. ‘Danny’s really good. He wasn’t driving. He usually drives,’ the worker said. The captain who plowed another NYC Ferry boat into an underwater pile field in the East River on Nov. 27 — previously identified by sources as Michael Sabatino — hasn’t returned to the helm and is currently assigned to other duties, the EDC said.”
Although the mayor admits that neither incident was “acceptable,” he notes that no one was injured and insists that there is “ample evidence” that suggests it is perfectly safe to ride the NYC Ferries.
Regarding Wednesday’s incident, de Blasio said, “People are safe because people all came out of it safe. That’s the answer.”
Last month corrosion and leaks that took six ferries out of service were downplayed by the mayor and even at first denied by City Hall and called just “a few issues with a few boats.”
According to the EDC, only on of those boats has returned to service, while the others are still receiving repairs that are “nearing completion.”
The popularity of the ferry service, which started operations in May with $325 million in taxpayer subsidies, with commuters is also repeatedly pointed out by de Blasio.
The mayor said, “We’ve had a huge level of demand for the ferries. They’ve worked well. There were times where we had too much demand, and we had to adjust and we did adjust. Safety has not been a problem here.”
By Rachel Shapiro