“The County is working with NY Waterway and Middletown to take a proactive approach to the situation we may face next week if there is any disruption to how our residents travel to work,” said Freeholder Director Thomas A. Arnone. “We understand the inconvenience that a disruption would cause and are actively taking measures to make sure we are doing everything we can to arrange to accommodate an increase in ferry passengers.”

 

“Given our successful 14-year partnership serving commuters in Middletown and Ocean Counties, I am confident that Monmouth County, Middletown Township and NY Waterway can work together to address the issue of access to the Belford/Middletown Ferry Terminal if we face an emergency next week,” said NY Waterway President & Founder Arthur E. Imperatore. “We have ferry capacity to get more than 2,000 commuters to work each morning and to get them home. What we must work on is landside access to the terminal.”

 

The Belford Ferry Terminal, owned by Monmouth County and operated by NY Waterway, is a visually appealing building with all customer amenities and free parking for 1,000 cars. Complimentary vans circulate through the parking lot to pick up passengers and bring them to the Belford Ferry Terminal.

 

“We are already preparing and if any service interruption occurs, we will provide a plan for handling the increase of passenger flow at the Belford Ferry Terminal,” said Deputy Director Serena DiMaso. “I encourage any commuters planning to take the ferry next week to make an effort to carpool to the Terminal’s parking lots with fellow commuters.”

 

“We are working proactively with Monmouth County and New York Waterways to develop an action plan should commuters need to make alternate transportation arrangements because of a NJ Transit strike,” said Mayor Gerry Scharfenberger, Ph.D. He noted Middletown has over 1,000 commuter rail permit holders. “We want to do everything we can realistically do to get commuters get to and from work as safely and efficiently as possible.”

 

Ferries operate Monday through Friday, carrying more than 2,000 passengers per day, with stops at Wall Street’s Pier 11 on the East River, the World Financial Center on the Hudson River, Paulus Hook in Jersey City and Manhattan’s West 39th Street.

 

For more information about the NY Waterway service to Call 1-800-53-FERRY or visit www.nywaterway.com for more information. Information is also available on the NY Waterway Facebook and Twitter.

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