Quinn joins fight to get ferry service for stranded R train riders
City Council Speaker Christine Quinn has joined an effort by Brooklyn elected officials and transportation advocates to get a temporary ferry service established for R train riders who will be facing a transit nightmare once the Montague Street Tunnel closes for repairs and the train stops running between Brooklyn and Manhattan early next month.
In a letter to Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) President Thomas Prendergast, Quinn requested that the agency work with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to bring a ferry service to the Brooklyn Army Terminal pier on First Avenue and 58th Street in Sunset Park and have the ferry service operate between that pier and a pier near Wall Street in Lower Manhattan for the duration of the tunnel repair project.
The Montague Street Tunnel, which provides the Brooklyn-Manhattan link for the R train, is scheduled to undergo extensive repairs due to damage from Superstorm Sandy, MTA officials recently announced. The tunnel is expected to be shut for 14 months, the officials stated. Manhattan-bound R trains will terminate at Court Street. In Manhattan, southbound R trains will terminate at Whitehall Street.
“Without a ferry service, R train riders in Brooklyn will be left scrambling for ways to get to and from work in Manhattan, according to Quinn.