NYC Ferry carried 1.4 million riders in July, the busiest month in the system's history, and Brooklyn supplied the surge. The Bay Ridge landing posted the largest year-over-year gain of any dock, up 31 percent, with Dumbo and Red Hook close behind, according to figures released Monday.

Officials credit a few unglamorous fixes: new shade canopies at six landings, a rejiggered schedule that improved bus connections in Bay Ridge, and real-time boat tracking that finally works. They also credit the weather. "When it's 95 degrees, the East River is the best-air-conditioned commute in New York," said a spokesperson for the city's Economic Development Corporation.

For south Brooklyn riders, the boat has quietly become the sane option. "Door to door, Bay Ridge to Wall Street, 40 minutes, and I watch the harbor instead of a stranger's elbow," said Ancel Joseph, a paralegal who switched from the R train in the spring. "I'm not going back. They'd have to sink it."

The record month renews a perennial question: whether the $4.50 fare, subsidized well beyond a subway ride, is buying transit or scenery. The city's answer, for now, is more boats. Two additional vessels enter service in September, and weekend frequencies on the South Brooklyn route double after Labor Day.