New Yorkers no longer have to wait as long as an hour to catch a Staten Island ferry.
The Staten Island Ferry began expanded service Thursday and will now run every 30 minutes around the clock, officials said. Rush-hour service will remain the same.
The change is a welcome one for commuters who travel late at night or early in the morning, when ferry service had previously been less frequent.
Officials say 70,000 people take the ferry on weekdays, and 22 million travel annually between St. George on Staten Island and Whitehall Street in Manhattan.
“Every Staten Islander has had that experience of missing the ferry and waiting an hour for the next one to pull in,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a statement. “Today, that’s a thing of the past.”
“For Staten Islanders, the ship has come in and will continue to come in every 30 minutes, 7 days a week, thanks to Mayor de Blasio, the Staten Island delegation, the borough president, and timely effective help that I was proud to deliver,” said Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.).
