By Manny Grossman

If Ari Hoffnung gets his way, Riverdale residents can sail down the Hudson River to get to work each day.

On Monday, Mr. Hoffnung, joined by a handful of supporters known as the Riverdale Ferry Coalition, held a press conference aboard a New York Water Taxi to tout the benefits of ferry service and to kick off a drive to bring a ferry stop to Riverdale.

The biggest draw, Mr. Hoffnung said, is shorter commute times into lower Manhattan.

A typical ferry ride from the Yonkers dock, where Mr. Hoffnung and his crew departed, to lower Manhattan, takes anywhere from 35 to 43 minutes depending on the current, said Capt. Carl Madsen of the New York Water Taxi.

With service already extended north to Yonkers and in Haverstraw in Rockland County, Mr. Hoffnung said adding a stop in Riverdale would require a "relatively low capital investment" of building a dock and adding additional shuttle bus service for commuters.

Congressman Eliot Engel and Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, who attended the press conference, both endorsed the idea of a ferry. "It ought to be looked at," said Mr. Engel, adding, "there are always federal transportation funds available."

Last year, in an effort to draw more business downtown, the Port Authority and the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation gave New York Water Taxi, a private company, $4.2 million in federal and state funds to develop and operate the ferry line.

Yonkers, which is working feverishly to develop and enliven its waterfront, received the lion's share of the grant to rebuild its dock at the end of Getty Square. Ferry service opened in May but received a lukewarm response from commuters.

Now, six months after opening, New York Water Taxi estimates that 100 people in total take the ferry each weekday. (There is no service on weekends.)

Commuters on Monday's 7:50 a.m. direct to lower Manhattan had nothing but praise for the ferry ride.