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Staten Island Ferry

Staten Island Ferry
Spirit of America - Staten Island Ferry.jpg
Locale Staten Island and Manhattan, New York City
Waterway Upper New York Bay
Transit type Passenger ferry
Operator New York City Department of Transportation
Began operation 1817
System length 5.2 mi (8.4 km)
No. of lines 1
No. of vessels 8
No. of terminals 2 (Whitehall, St. George)
Daily ridership 66,000 a weekday

The Staten Island Ferry is a passenger ferry service operated by the New York City Department of Transportation. It runs 5.2 miles (8.4 km) in New York Harbor between the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and Staten Island. The ferry operates 24/7.

The ferry departs Manhattan from the Staten Island Ferry Whitehall Terminal at South Ferry, at the southernmost tip of Manhattan near Battery Park. On Staten Island, the ferry arrives and departs from the St. George Ferry Terminal on Richmond Terrace, near Richmond County's Borough Hall and Supreme Court. Service is provided 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and is punctual 96% of the time. 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. While trips take 25 minutes, service usually runs every 30 minutes most hours of the day and night, with more frequent service during peak times.

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 use of placeholding optical turnstiles at both terminals. 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.


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