Ikea and NY Water Taxi reacted quickly today to reports from Red Hook that its policy was changing regarding the free Water Taxi service from Manhattan to Red Hook. Via a Water Taxi spokesperson came this statement: “there is no charge for the IKEA Water Taxi – it is still FREE to EVERYONE. The demand for service has been so high, that IKEA has instituted an in store hand stamp for customers who traveled to the store via the free Water Taxi to insure that the customers they are providing the free Water Taxi shuttle for get first in line and get a seat on the Water Taxi to get back to Manhattan. As long as there is space on the Water Taxi after IKEA customers board it is open and FREE to everyone.” Another spokesperson confirmed that there is no plan to charge anyone to use the Water Taxi but that Ikea customers would have priority in boarding if boats are full. The $6 charge that some people reported being told about wasn’t planned and isn’t coming. As for the sign, Ikea says the handwritten notice didn’t come from its employees and Water Taxi says its people had nothing to do with it. The bottom line: As long as there is space on the boat not filled by Ikea customers, there are still free rides for whoever wants them.
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3 responses so far ↓
1 neighbor // Jul 16, 2008 at 1:38 pm
Top notch corporate communcations staff they’ve got.
(I have no idea who they are or what or where, I’m just an innocent interested BoCoCa based bystander in that field.)
2 TPlane // Jul 17, 2008 at 4:37 pm
The straw that apparently broke the Swedish camel’s back was the number of large families that were taking the boat multiple times and taking up large portions of the boats on Sundays, which are big shopping days. When told they would have to get off they would exit and cut the line in front of Ikea customers going back to Manhattan.
3 ANNOYED // Apr 13, 2009 at 4:23 pm
I’m not surprised. I was taking the ferry from Ikea at 2.15 pm on Monday. I had a big blue Ikea bag stuffed to its top, I could hardly carry it. The only other person who actually did buy something from Ikea was carrying it in his hand. The rest of the (roughly) 150 (yes! 150 !) people trying to push in in front of me, were large families with at least 5 kids each. I had my feet run over by a stroller twice and if it wasn’t for the water taxi staff I would have never made it onboard. They were closing the gate when half of the people got on because thre were just too many of them!I was standing on the bank with tears of anger in my eyes. Out of all those people onboard only ONE purchased something from the store! Ridiculous! All of those people getting free rides should be forced to buy tickets. They are simply taking up the customers’ seats. It’s not fair to spend $200 in the store and have to fight over a seat with people who are not entitled to it.