NYC Ferry Kicks Off Summer 2025, Beaches Expected to Deliver Record Economic Impact

Photo Courtesy of NYCEDC

New Analysis Shows NYC Beaches Create Roughly 1,200 Seasonal Jobs, Generate Nearly $80 Million in Economic Impact to New York City

NYC Ferry Summer Schedule Returns, Expecting Record Ridership to Rockaways as well as many other Popular Destinations

This week, New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) and NYC Ferry kickstarted NYC Ferry’s summer schedule, announcing the return of the popular ‘Rockaway Reserve’ and ‘Rockaway Rocket’ to accommodate increased passenger traffic to New York City beaches during the summer season and amid record ridership. This announcement comes as NYCEDC released a new analysis on the economic impact of beach season, Beyond the Boardwalk: NYC Beaches as Economic Engines, which shows visitations to New York City beaches up year-over-year, driving job creation and generating nearly $80 million in spending by tourists each season.

In a first-ever analysis of New York City’s beach season, new data shows:

• Rockaway Beach and Coney Island supported roughly 1,200 seasonal jobs in 2024, and tourists traveling to those locales generated nearly $80 million in direct spending.
• New York City beaches welcomed 11.6 million visitors in 2024, a year-over-year increase of more than 230,000 people.
• Nearly a quarter of all beach visitors in summer 2024 came from outside the city.
• Four beaches saw their highest visitation since 2020: Cedar Grove, Rockaway, Seagate, and Manhattan beaches.
• The new Gansevoort beach saw 105,000 visits in its first full season.

Return of the Rockaway Rocket and Rockaway Reserve

• Rockaway Reserve: Starting Memorial Day weekend through September 7th, on weekends and holidays, riders can reserve a spot on select morning trips towards the Rockaways and afternoon trips back to Wall St./Pier 11 and Brooklyn Army Terminal along the Rockaway route.
• Rockaway Rocket: Returning to Long Island City and Greenpoint to provide express, all-reserve service, Rockaway Rocket service will start on July 4th and go through Labor Day weekend. A dedicated beach service, the Rocket will operate two direct morning trips to Rockaway from Long Island City and Greenpoint and two afternoon return trips back.

Rockaway Reserve and Rockaway Rocket tickets are $12 and include priority boarding and a guaranteed spot on board a specific departure. Non-reserved seats (more than half of each boat) will continue to be available at the regular $4.50 fare, as well as $2.90 10-pack tickets or $1.45 reduced fare tickets. Onboard bike space is limited. If you purchase a Rockaway Reserve or Rocket ticket and would like to bring your bike onboard, you must additionally reserve a $0 bicycle ticket in advance when purchasing your ticket in the NYC Ferry app.

NYC Ferry, which saw more than 7.4 million riders in 2024—the highest ridership in its history—is already seeing a five percent increase in ridership, with eight record-setting weeks to start the year. In Summer 2024, NYC Ferry recorded its highest ridership to the Rockaways since the end of the pandemic, with more than 167,000 passengers boarding at Wall St./Pier 11 and Sunset Park/BAT heading to the Queens neighborhood. Since the launch of ‘NYC Ferry Forward,’ NYCEDC and NYC Ferry continues to see record ridership, while lowering the per passenger subsidy over 30 percent from its peak, and hitting all-time highs of farebox revenue.

NYC Ferry already has the lowest per passenger subsidy of any publicly funded passenger-only ferry system in the United States, and of the major transit systems in the New York region, NYC Ferry operates at a lower per passenger subsidy than the Long Island Railroad, Metro-North, and Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s (MTA) express or commuter bus systems.

The NYC Ferry system provides more than seven million riders annually with safe, dependable, affordable, and accessible transit across the five boroughs. With six routes that touch every borough, 25 landings, and 38 vessels, the system spans 70 nautical miles and has the largest passenger-only fleet in the nation. NYC Ferry has further proven to be among New York City’s most resilient transit network with the fastest ridership recovery of any city transit system since the pandemic.

Methodology

NYCEDC used cell phone mobility data collected from Placer.ai to get estimates of visits to NYC beaches, which is also used for economic impact estimates. Transportation data is from the MTA’s subway origin-destination ridership and from the NYC Ferry ridership datasets. Business and employment estimates are based on Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages data from NYS Department of Labor. Visitor spending estimates are based on data provided by NYC Tourism and Conventions.

About NYCEDC
New York City Economic Development Corporation is a mission-driven, nonprofit organization that works for a vibrant, inclusive, and globally competitive economy for all New Yorkers. We take a comprehensive approach, through four main strategies: strengthen confidence in NYC as a great place to do business; grow innovative sectors with a focus on equity; build neighborhoods as places to live, learn, work, and play; and deliver sustainable infrastructure for communities and the city’s future economy. To learn more about what we do, visit us onFacebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.