South Amboy Ferry Service To NYC Gets Floating Dock

SOUTH AMBOY, NJ — The good news just keeps coming for the NY Waterway ferry service from South Amboy to New York City:

This week, Congressman Frank Pallone announced the town of South Amboy will receive $6 million in federal money to build a floating dock for the ferry.

Currently, there is no floating dock for the brand-new South Amboy ferry, which departs Monday-Friday from 100 Radford Ferry Road in South Amboy.

Passengers use an improvised gangplank to get on and off the boats.

South Amboy ferry service into Lower Manhattan and Midtown just launched Oct. 30, and customers on the first day of service said they "love it:"

"It was a great trip," said South Amboy resident Patrick Ha, 29, who up until now took NJ Transit and then the PATH to his job in Manhattan. "I got the 7:45 a.m. ferry this morning and was in Manhattan by 8:37 p.m. It's definitely nicer than the train/PATH, and there were fewer people on the boat — and no transfer."

NY Waterway runs the service; here is their schedule and fares. There is free parking at the ferry lot at 100 Radford Ferry Road; the lot is unpaved and you have to walk down a dirt road to get to the ferry.

Fares are one-way adult: $18, one-way senior: $17, 10-trip: $165, 40-trip: $600 and monthly $588.

For comparison, a 40-trip ticket from nearby Belford into NYC by Seastreak is $720.

The trip from South Amboy to Brookfield Place in Lower Manhattan is just under 50 minutes. The boat then makes a second stop at West 39th Street in Midtown.

Right now, there is no weekend service; boats run on weekdays only, Monday-Friday. Ferries leave during the morning and evening commute hours. Ferries do not run at midday.

The first ferry leaves at 5:45 a.m., and then every hour: 6:45 a.m., 7:45 a.m. and 8:45 a.m. Here is the South Amboy-NYC schedule: https://www.nywaterway.com/Sou...

Congressman Pallone, a Democrat, said he was happy to help the fledgling ferry service by securing the six million for the floating dock. The funding comes from the Passenger Ferry Grant Program through the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Administration (FTA).

"The floating dock system will make the ferry more accessible to passengers and bolster the dock’s resilience against fluctuating tides and flooding events,” the congressman said on Nov. 30. “The South Amboy ferry is already giving residents a new way to commute between Central Jersey and New York City, and I’m going to continue to work to improve transportation infrastructure in our state.”

First Day Of South Amboy-NYC Ferry Service: Customers 'Love It' (Oct. 30)

South Amboy Ferry Service To New York City Will Launch Oct. 30 (Oct. 17)