Surf's Up, Ferry's Down: The Rockaways' Transit Troubles

Rockaway Park — In recent years, a rapidly growing surfing community and attractive residential beach developments have brought enough renewed life to Queens' Rockaway Peninsula—an area that has struggled for decades with a dwindling population and rising crime—that one might be tempted to dust off the area's illustrious 19th-century nickname, "New York's Playground," or at least replay that old Ramones album to remember why they wrote a song about it.

Yet, since June, during Rockaway's busiest beachgoing season, the city and the Metropolitan Transit Authority have made two major transit cuts to the area that could undermine Rockaway's fragile commercial and residential growth.

The commuter ferry, which was run by a private company and subsidized by the city, was discontinued on June 30 after only two years in service. On the weekends, tourists can still board at Wall Street for $25 one way and flood the beaches at Rockaway's Jacob Riis Park, but the ferry's initial purpose as a commuting alternative to the subway has been shelved indefinitely.

About a month later, on July 23, the MTA modified the Rockaway Rebate program on the Cross Bay Bridge toll. Since 1998, E-Z Pass-toting residents had been fully reimbursed for their trips on the intraborough bridge to mainland Queens that brought many to the nearest hospital or post office. Now, residents with an E-Z Pass must pay $1.13 for their first two trips over the bridge each day.

The double layer of cuts has many locals concerned: one eliminates an entire mode of transportation, the other takes back, at least in part, a privilege that Rockaway residents fought hard to get over 10 years ago. "While I would hope the cuts wouldn't have an impact on the area's growth," says John Lepore, president of the Rockaway Chamber of Commerce, "I'm afraid they will. They make it difficult to do business and travel here."

That traveling includes both local and city-dwelling surfers. "Not having a toll to Rockaway was a huge plus," says Morgan Rae Berk, co-founder of the New York Surf Film Festival and an active member of the Rockaway community. While she has witnessed the surfing boom since the sport was legalized there in 2005, attracting businesses like Rockaway Taco and Veggie Island on Beach 96th Street, she worries about its future: "The cuts will reduce incentives for new businesses—surf or not surf related. Making it harder to get there equals less bodies equals less potential revenues."

Voting with their feet?

Despite new oceanfront developments like Arverne by the Sea and Ocean One Condominiums, potential new residents could also be tempted to go elsewhere. "If you can't get to work in the city easily, why not live closer to it?" says Berk, who thinks Long Beach, Long Island, which gets LIRR service and is only 10 minutes further from the city than Rockaway, might now be an even more viable alternative than before for those who want a beachside address.

Others are less concerned—and less surprised. For Boarders Surf Shop owner and lifelong Rockaway local Steve Stathis, traveling to and from his native neighborhood has always been a struggle. As a kid in the 60s, he paid twice as much to get home on the subway because the Rockaway peninsula was a "double fare." In the 80s, a short-lived ferry to downtown Manhattan was a retired fishing boat that belched black smoke over the Atlantic. As for the Cross Bay Bridge, it has been charging a toll to pay off construction costs since it was built in 1939. For him, the latest round of cuts is par for the course.