Staten Island Ferry

The Staten Island Ferry is a passenger ferry route operated by the New York City Department of Transportation. The ferry's single route runs 5.2 miles through New York Harbor between the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and Staten Island, with ferry boats making the trip in approximately 25 minutes. The ferry operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with boats leaving every 15 to 20 minutes during peak hours and every 30 minutes at other times. It is the only direct mass-transit connection between the two boroughs.

Overview

The Staten Island Ferry route terminates at Whitehall Terminal, on Whitehall Street in Lower Manhattan, and at St. George Terminal, in St. George, Staten Island. At Whitehall, connections are available to the New York City Subway and several local New York City Bus routes. At St. George, there are transfers to the Staten Island Railway and to the St. George Bus Terminal's many bus routes.

The Staten Island Ferry has a high commuter ridership due to the lack of transit connections between Staten Island and the other boroughs. With 23.9 million riders in fiscal year 2016, the Staten Island Ferry is the single busiest ferry route in the United States as of 2016, as well as the world's busiest passenger-only ferry system. The ferry is also popular among tourists and visitors, due to the views of the New York Harbor a trip affords; and it has been featured in several films.

The ferry to Staten Island departs Manhattan from the Staten Island Ferry Whitehall Terminal at South Ferry, at the southernmost tip of Manhattan near the Battery, and follows a single route. On Staten Island, ferryboats to Manhattan depart from the St. George Ferry Terminal on Richmond Terrace.

The ferry ride affords views of the Downtown Jersey City skyline, the Lower Manhattan skyline, Statue of Liberty on Liberty Island, Ellis Island, Governors Island and the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge.

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Staten Island Ferry", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0