Brooklyn IKEA to Charge Water Taxi Freeriders

IKEA Tuesday announced that on Aug. 3 it will begin charging a fee to weekday riders of its water taxi service who do not shop at its Red Hook store.

And no, you can't just buy a $1 yogurt and enjoy the ride: According to the Brooklyn Eagle, folks who don't ante up at least $10 worth of purchases at IKEA will have to pay the $5 fare. (Get all the details here.)

Eye Heart New York says this isn't fair, that IKEA promised free water taxi rides when they were trying to get into Red Hook, and that the city subsidizes the water taxi. The water taxi is good for Red Hook -- loads of folks are using them to get to the Red Hook ball fields, the waterfront art show etc.

- This article in the Observer indicates that the water taxi wasn't meant to be free forever.
- But this article says it was: "Ikea spokesman Joseph Roth says the new services would be available to anyone, not just customers of the store."

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