Brooklyn terminal/Uber

[bones774]

Using pub trans, I see there is a NYC MTA bus that stops some blocks from Brooklyn cruise term, and that's as close as you can get.

Is it a reasonable walk from bus stop, safety and distance?

If not, is there a very active Uber community there?

Thanks

[princeton123211]

4 hours ago, bones774 said:

If not, is there a very active Uber community there?

I don't know where you're headed so won't comment on public transport but Uber/Lyft is easy and plentiful at Brooklyn Cruise Terminal. 

[Brighton Line]

The walk is fine, I actually got dropped off there by an Uber when the driver insisted on not listening to me as his GPS was telling him to go to the locked gate entrance (gate is closed when a ship was in port at 72 Bowne St) instead of the Clinton Wharf address. Bowne St was change to the name of Clinton Wharf and is the address of the NYC Ferry Slip Landing. 

 

There is a pedestrian entrance at the intersection of Pioneer St and Conover St. where Pioneer ends with a right turn into the start of Conover. From the gate it is a one-block walk to the B61 that runs on Van Brunt St. Your stop to the Pier is Van Brunt and Verona St one block over. 

[bones774]

Great, thanks

[FritzG]

Since we're seniors who need help with our luggage would it be better to book a ride service rather than using Lyft?

[GTJ]

6 hours ago, FritzG said:

Since we're seniors who need help with our luggage would it be better to book a ride service rather than using Lyft?

I don't understand the question. Lyft is a "ride service," in that it provides a service of transporting passengers as requested. In deciding whether to use a "ride service" or public transportation, the critical factor is whether someone can manage their own baggage, not the fact that the person is a senior (there are many seniors who are very fit, as there are many young people who are not fit at all).

[GTJ]

On 7/21/2023 at 8:43 AM, Brighton Line said:

There is a pedestrian entrance at the intersection of Pioneer St and Conover St. where Pioneer ends with a right turn into the start of Conover. From the gate it is a one-block walk to the B61 that runs on Van Brunt St. Your stop to the Pier is Van Brunt and Verona St one block over. 

Pioneer Street, the location of the pedestrian entrance, is in between two bus stops on Van Brunt Street. The stop before Pioneer Street is Verona Street, and the stop after is King Street, so one can alight at either stop and walk forward or back to Pioneer Street (King Street might be marginally closer to Pioneer Street than Verona Street, but not significantly so). Given that the bus stops were established prior to the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal's opening, it might be worthwhile for the city's Department of Transportation to consider realigning the Van Brunt Street stops so that there is a bus stop right at Pioneer Street.

 

The discussion of the streets caused me to review again at the history of the area. Early on this area of Brooklyn was not well-settled and comprised of tidal flats. But there was envisioned a plan to develop this area into a maritime shipping center that would avoid the undue congestion then present at South Street in Manhattan, a busy public street bisected the area where cargo was being handled. It was, in fact, the laying out of the Atlantic Basin--where the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal is now located--that was the primary cause of Red Hook being filled and developed. The basin was opened in 1841, and was much larger than it is today (much was filled in during the 1950s and 1960s). The southern boundary has remained intact since then. Pioneer was originally William Street, but the street was given its present name in 1903, recognizing the Pioneer Iron Works that was located thereon. This street, west of Conover Street, was known as Clinton Wharf, a name that remains on Google maps and GPS systems but is otherwise seems to not be marked with actual street signs (probably because it is located entirely within the area now owned by the Port Authority) . . . anyone know of any such signs? The east side of Atlantic Basin  had originally extended as far east as Conover Street, and what Google maps now refers to as an extension of Bowne Street. Originally this was known as Commercial Whart, going from Pioneer Street (William Street) north nearly as far as Summit Street (now ending at Imlay Street, Summit Street used to continue one block further westward, going as far as Commercial Wharf, which itself was the extension of Conover Street). The Pier 11 building, and all the parking in front of it, was previously water! The north side of Atlantic Basin was originally angled, paralleling Hamilton Avenue—what is now northbound Hamilton Avenue (on the east side of the Gowanus Expressway). The northern boundary of the basis was India Wharf, which was effectively what would be the extension of what is now southbound Hamilton Avenue (on the west side of the Gowanus Expressway), extending from Commercial Wharf—the extension of Conover Street—to Pier 10, the north pier of Atlantic Basin. Much of where containers are now stored at the Red Hook Container Terminals was previously water. It might also be noted that Pier 12 itself, which is the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal, to about twice its original width.

 

Railroad enthusiasts likely know as well that the New York Dock Company Railway operated here, isolated from other railroads, with tracks on the three wharves (Clinton, Commercial, and India). There were also tracks throughout what is now the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal parking lot and as far south as Wolcott Street, as well as encircling Bowne Street, Commerce Street, and the property just east of Imlay Street. The railroad also operated carfloat service. In 1983 the railroad operations passed on to the New York Cross Harbor Railroad, which then continued until abandonment in 1992. It was then in 2006 that the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal was opened on the site formerly used by the railroad.

 

So much of Atlantic Basin has been destroyed, both the filling-in of a good part of the basin, and the replacement of the railroad yard with the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal. Yet, if one knows where to look, and can imagine, there is much to be explored here. The pedestrian entrance gate, at the intersection of Pioneer Street and Conover Street, was originally the southeast corner of Atlantic Basin, where Clinton Wharf and Commercial Wharf had also intersected. One might stand there ard imagine. To research further, there's a good map from 1855 at the Center for Brooklyn History in the Brooklyn Public Library (click here), and many more maps and histories at Red Hook Water Stories (click here).