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Getting to the Rockaways for a beach day no longer requires long, multi-line subway rides. NYC Ferry has just announced a new express route that’ll pick up beachgoers in Manhattan and bring them straight to Rockaway for just $8 a ticket.
Starting this weekend on Saturday, July 23, the Rockaway Rocket will take riders from Pier 11/Wall St. to Rockaway Beach 108th Street at Beach Channel Drive every Saturday, Sunday and holiday through September 11. There are no stops in between!
RECOMMENDED: All Rockaway beaches are currently closed due to shark sightings
Riders can reserve departures from Wall Street/Pier 11 at 9:30am, 11:30am and 1:30pm and departures from Rockaway at 2:30pm, 4:30pm and 6:30pm.
The new service is $8 and requires a separate, reservation/ticket—meaning you’ll need to pay $2.75 to ride or transfer onto another NYC Ferry route. Plus, each Rockaway Rocket ride is $8 one-way, so you’ll need to purchase another ticket to return to Manhattan.
Once at Beach 108th Street, you can take a $2.75 bus to any of the other beaches.
The new service comes after Mayor Eric Adams announced that the fare for the NYC Ferry will climb to $4 per ride (up from $2.75) for “tourists and infrequent riders” starting September 12. The move was expected given that the ferry, which is subsidized, actually costs $12.88 per trip even though riders have been paying just $2.75, meaning that the city underreported about $244 million worth of expenses since 2015, according to Gothamist.
Whatever the reason, having a direct trip to the Rockaways is super helpful for those of us who want a beach day this summer. That being said, the sharks have other plans—all of Rockaway Beach was closed to swimming yesterday due to shark sightings.
Hopefully, the rest of the summer will be shark free so we can hop aboard this rad Rockaway Rocket!