Staten Island Ferry: the last of New York's municipal routes

Boats have crossed between Whitehall Street and St. George since 1816, first in private hands and from 1905 under the City of New York, which acquired the route from the Staten Island Rapid Transit that year. According to the NYC Municipal Archives, that purchase started a municipal fleet that by 1925 reached every borough as well as New Jersey; by the mid-1940s the Staten Island line was the only one still in city hands. It is still a city department's job: NYC DOT runs the boats, the two terminals and the timetable.

Today the route carries more than 16 million people a year and never stops. On a typical weekday five boats make 117 crossings, a departure every 15 minutes at the height of both rush hours and a boat each half hour overnight. At weekends three boats keep up a steady half-hourly service, 96 trips a day. The ride takes about 25 minutes and costs nothing at all.

One thing has changed for good: the ferry no longer takes cars. Photographs in the city archives show automobiles aboard the municipal boats in the 1920s, but the current fleet is passenger-only, so this is a crossing for people on foot, on bikes and in wheelchairs. Texas's free Galveston–Port Bolivar ferry, by contrast, is built around drivers, with room for about 70 vehicles on each boat.

Every departure, Whitehall and St. George, weekday and weekend

NYC DOT timetable as published on its Staten Island Ferry schedule page and in its printed schedule, both read October 15, 2026. No end date is given; NYC DOT says schedules may change without notice.   NYC DOT — Staten Island Ferry Schedule · 2026-10-15

A free ride, so the only prices are for parking

No fare is charged and no ticket exists, in either direction. NYC DOT states plainly that the ride is free; what you do pass through is security, since every passenger can be screened at random by NYPD officers and K9 teams before boarding.

Bicycles also ride at no charge. The only cost most visitors meet is getting to the terminal: a subway or bus fare in Manhattan, or parking on Staten Island.

Free fare as stated by NYC DOT on its schedule, traveler-information and printed-schedule pages; parking rates from the NYC DOT municipal parking list, all read October 15, 2026   NYC DOT — Staten Island Ferry Traveler Information · 2026-10-15

Two terminals rebuilt in 2005, with subway at one end and rail at the other

Both terminals are big enclosed buildings with elevators, escalators and staffed security, not open piers. Plan for one quirk at night: between 1:00 and 4:30 a.m. NYC DOT closes the waiting rooms from time to time for federally required security sweeps, and passengers wait in a designated area until they reopen.

Across Upper New York Bay, from the Battery to the North Shore

The 5.2-mile run crosses Upper New York Bay from the southern tip of Manhattan to the northeastern corner of Staten Island. On the way the boats pass within sight of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, which lie to the west of the course, and St. George faces the stretch of harbor that leads south toward the Narrows.

Riding the orange boats without surprises

• Step-free boarding on the lower level

  Passengers using wheelchairs or other mobility devices board on the lower level at either terminal and need no paperwork. Anyone else who needs lower-level boarding must apply in advance with supporting documents.

• Bikes go downstairs too

  Cyclists board on the lower level, walk their bikes through the terminal and park them in the bicycle area on the lower deck. E-bikes with pedals are allowed, but electric mopeds are not, and no battery may be charged on board.

• The peaks belong to commuters

  About 45,000 people ride on a typical weekday, and the 15-minute peak service is built around them. Sightseers who want room at the rail do better at midday or at the weekend.

• Pets only in a carrier

  Animals other than service animals are allowed in the terminals and on the boats only in a cage or carrier, or muzzled.

• Late notes for work or school

  A boat counts as late if it leaves more than five minutes after its posted time. NYC DOT issues late notes on request through NYC311.

How one route outlived a whole municipal fleet

The fleet has been renewed in waves. The two small Austen-class boats date from 1986 and the big Samuel I. Newhouse from 1982; the three Molinari-class ferries entered service in 2005 and 2006; and the three Ollis-class boats, each built for 4,500 passengers, joined in 2022 and 2023. NYC DOT reports an on-time performance of 96 percent for 2023, measured against the timetable on this page.

Keeping 117 weekday trips on time depends on rotation rather than speed. NYC DOT runs a four-boat pattern with 15 minutes between departures in the rush hours and uses the gap between the peaks to refuel the boats and do maintenance, which is why the midday timetable relaxes to a half-hourly rhythm.

That makes it an outlier among the New York ferries on this site. The Fire Island boats from Long Island's South Shore to Kismet, Cherry Grove and Davis Park sell tickets and move to shorter fall tables once summer ends, and the Fishers Island ferry, which belongs to a New York island, charges a fare and sails from New London, Connecticut.

Four classes of boats in the current fleet

Staten Island Ferry questions from commuters and first-timers