Twenty-five minutes across New York Harbour past the Statue of Liberty, every half hour, around the clock, for nothing. The best free thing in the city.
Free, and it has always been free
The fare was abolished in 1997. Before that it was fifty cents, and before that a nickel, which it had been since 1897. There is no ticket, no queue, no turnstile — you walk into the terminal, wait for the doors, and get on.
It carries around 70,000 passengers a day, mostly Staten Island commuters, and it runs 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Every thirty minutes off-peak, every fifteen to twenty at rush hour, hourly in the middle of the night.
The crossing
Twenty-five minutes each way across the Upper Bay. Leaving Manhattan the whole Lower Manhattan skyline pulls away behind you, which is the best view of it there is — better than any observation deck, because you get the shape of the island rather than the top of it.
Then Governors Island to port, Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty to starboard at about half a mile, and the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge closing the harbour to the south.
The outdoor decks at the bow and stern are open on most boats. On a cold day the wind across the bay is serious.
Sunset sailings are the ones to aim for. The boat heading back toward Manhattan as the lights come on is a genuine, no-cost, no-booking experience that beats a lot of things people pay a hundred dollars for.
The catch
You cannot stay on the boat. Everyone disembarks at St George, walks through the terminal, and re-boards for the return, which takes about ten minutes. It is not a round trip, it is two trips.
The Manhattan terminal
The Whitehall Terminal is at the southern tip of Manhattan, next to The Battery. There is a waiting hall, toilets, and food. Doors open a few minutes before each departure and there is a short surge as everyone walks on.
Bicycles are allowed on the lower deck. Alcohol is not, and this is enforced more than it used to be.
Is Staten Island worth staying for
Most visitors turn round. If you do stay: the Staten Island Museum and the September 11 Memorial are both by the terminal, the Snug Harbor Cultural Center with its Chinese Scholar’s Garden is a bus ride away, and the Staten Island Yankees ballpark next to the terminal has the same skyline view from a seat.
The Empire Outlets mall beside the terminal is the reason a fair number of people cross at all.
More The Waterfront
Ellis Island
Twelve million people came through this hall between 1892 and 1954. Around forty per cent of Americans have an ancestor who was processed in it.
Governors Island
An army base for two centuries, closed to the public until 2005, now 172 acres of car-free park eight minutes by ferry from Lower Manhattan.
The Battery
Twenty-five acres at the bottom of the island, named for the gun battery that stood here, and the departure point for every boat in the harbour.