HISTORY

The Staten Island Ferry is a passenger ferry service operated by the New York City Department of Transportation that runs between the boroughs of Manhattan and Staten Island.

Overview

The ferry departs Manhattan from the Staten Island Ferry Whitehall Terminal, South Ferry, at the southernmost tip of Manhattan near Battery Park. On Staten Island, the ferry arrives and departs from St. George Ferry Terminal on Richmond Terrace, near Richmond County Borough Hall and Richmond County Supreme Court. Service is provided 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The Staten Island Ferry is quite a reliable form of mass transit, with an on-time performance of over 96 percent. The Staten Island Ferry has been a municipal service since 1905, and currently carries over 21 million passengers annually on the 5.2-mile (8.4 km) run.

The five-mile (8 km) journey takes about 25 minutes each way. The ferry is free of charge, though riders must disembark at each terminal and reenter through the terminal building for a round trip to comply with Coast Guard regulations regarding vessel capacity and the place holding optical turnstiles at both terminals. Bicycles may also be taken on the lowest deck of the ferry without charge. In the past, ferries were equipped for vehicle transport, at a charge of $3 per automobile; however, vehicles have not been allowed on the ferry since the September 11, 2001, attacks.

For most of the 20th century, the ferry was famed as the biggest bargain in New York City. It charged the same one-nickel fare as the New York City Subway but the ferry fare remained a nickel when the subway fare increased to 10 cents in 1948. In 1970 then-Mayor John V. Lindsay proposed that the fare be raised to 25 cents, pointing out that the cost for each ride was 50 cents, or ten times what the fare brought in. On August 4, 1975, the nickel fare ended and the charge became 25 cents for a round trip, the quarter being collected in one direction only. The round trip increased to 50 cents in 1990, but the fare was eliminated altogether in 1997.

There is commuter parking at the St George Ferry terminal, which is also the terminus of the Staten Island Railway. On the Manhattan side the new Staten Island Ferry Whitehall Terminal, dedicated in 2005, has convenient access to subways, buses, taxis and bicycle routes. The ferry ride is a favorite of tourists to New York as it provides excellent views of the Lower Manhattan skyline and the Statue of Liberty. The ferry, like the subway system, runs twenty-four hours a day, with service continuing overnight after most day peak traffic has ceased.
The route of the Staten Island Ferry across Upper New York Bay is shown in yellow on a TERRA satellite photo of New York Harbor.

In addition to the ferry, the city also provides a number of Manhattan to Staten Island bus services, but Staten Island has no passenger rail connection to any other Borough, either by bridge or underground, due to the cancellation of the Staten Island Tunnel in the 1920s.

While the ferries no longer transport motor vehicles they do transport bicycles. There are two bicycle entrances to the ferry from either borough. The bike entrance is always on the first floor so bicyclists can enter the ferry from the ground without needing to enter the building. The ground entrance is also reserved exclusively for bike-riders (everyone else must use the 2nd floor entrance). Cyclists must dismount and walk their bicycles to the waiting area and onto the boat and bicycles must be stored in the designated bicycle storage area on each boat. Cyclists are subject to screening upon arrival at the ferry terminals.

The ferry is a popular place to go on Saturday night; beer and snacks are served.