Two years ago, almost exactly, the New York Times reported the arrival of two new ferries purchased by Goldman Sachs to shuttle between its headquarters in Battery Park City and Jersey City. The boats would be available to the public, replacing New York Waterway vessels plying the same route, but they didn’t start operating until this week. And it’s a mystery why. Even two years ago, Goldman’s spokeswoman “declined to say why Goldman spent about $5 million to have ferries built to operate on a commuter route where about two-thirds of the users have no connection to Goldman,” the Times’ Patrick McGeehan wrote when they arrived. And now that the ferries are running, the bank really doesn’t want to talk about what caused the delay.
On Wednesday, McGeehan noted in his story about the ferries’ launch that Goldman’s spokeswoman “repeatedly declined to explain the long delay, saying only that the necessary ‘requirements and checks’ had taken longer than expected.” Paul Goodman, the president of BillyBey Ferry Company, which will operate the boats, “acknowledged that he would have liked to have put the boats into service sooner but said he was sworn to keeping Goldman’s secret about the delay.” Whatever the hold-up, the new boats with their “sofa-style seating, swivel chairs and bicycle racks” sure sound nice. But just because Goldman’s being so coy about it, we’re absolutely dying to know what took so long.
