Addabbo: City needs better response times for ferry incidents

After an NYC Ferry collided with a sandbar just off the Rockaways on Wednesday, December 27, dozens of passengers and crew — 27 in all — were stranded on the boat in freezing waters for hours before help could arrive.

“We are glad that no one was seriously injured during this incident,” said State Senator Joseph P. Addabbo, Jr. “However, the city needs to seriously improve their response time in situations like this, where 27 people were stuck out on the water in sub-freezing conditions for hours before rescue boats could arrive. This is the second time since November 27 that an NYC Ferry boat crashed into a submerged object, and measures need to be taken to prevent accidents like this from occurring if people are expected to trust and use the city’s ferry system. The city has been lucky that over the recent incidents on the Ferry nobody was seriously injured. I’m hopeful that improved safety measures can be implemented before the city’s luck runs out.”