What proved to be a popular attraction on Buffalo's waterfront last year is now open for its second season. The Queen City Bike Ferry, which offers passage between Canalside and the Outer Harbor, held its ceremonial first run late Friday morning.
Elected and public officials, business leaders and other invited guests stepped off the ferry at the newly-constructed Outer Harbor landing Friday morning.
Last year, the first for the bike ferry, an estimated 50,000 people used the service. More users are expected this season.
"With this landing and with the help of the Outer Harbor Management Group, we're going to have a much more desirable and attractive landing," said Sam Hoyt, regional president of Empire State Development. "We're going to provide services. Concessions will be provided."
The newly-formed Outer Harbor Management Group recently hosted the first of several planned events along the waterfront, "Architects of Air," an exhibit featuring a large inflatable maze that utilizes light and color. The general theme of Outer Harbor redevelopment has been placing emphasis on greenspace. The new bike ferry landing will soon have more to offer to that theme.
Daniel Seiders, a landscape architect who worked on the ferry landing, says in the future people will be able to enjoy a proliferation of butterfiles in the area.
"The perimeter meadow areas have just been planted so they don't look like much now, but over the next few seasons as they mature, you'll see plants that serve as food sources and habitat for butterflies," he said.
The new landing is one of two significant changes in the bike ferry's second year. The other change is the addition of a second vessel that will be used during peak hours.
"We won't be able to guarantee that there will never be a wait, but addressing the concerns that we had last year will be accomplished through having the second ferry at peak hours," Hoyt said.
The bike ferry's hours will be noon until 8 p.m. on weekdays and 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekends. The price is the same as last year, one dollar per crossing.
It's unknown yet whether the ferry will run only through Labor Day, a traditional shutdown time for many summer activities, or whether the ferry may extend into late September or early October.
"If the weather holds and the popularity holds, we'll continue to run the ferry," Hoyt said.
(Below is a video by WBFO's Michael Mroziak of an arrival at the new ferry landing on the Outer Harbor side, as viewed aboard the ferry).
