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See Also: Transportation in New York City The Staten Island Ferry is a passenger Ferry operated by the New York City Department Of Transportation between Whitehall Street in Lower Manhattan near Battery Park ( South Ferry ) and St. George Ferry Terminal on Richmond Terrace in Staten Island near Richmond County Borough Hall and Richmond County Supreme Court. The ride takes about 25 minutes each way. The ferry is now free of charge, though you must disembark at each terminal and reenter through the terminal building for your return trip. Bicycles may also be taken on the lowest deck of the ferry without charge. Most of the ferries are equipped for vehicle transport, formerly 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 five cent fare as the New York 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 Monday, 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 then 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 terminal is convenient to various bus and subway connections. 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 . is shown in yellow on a TERRA satellite photo of New York City .]] HISTORY In the 1700s, ferry service between rural Staten Island and the city of New York (then occupying only the southern tip of Manhattan) was conducted by private individuals with "periaugers," shallow-draft, two-masted sailboats used for local traffic in New York harbor. In the early 1800s, Vice President (and former New York governor) Daniel D. Tompkins secured a charter for the Richmond Turnpike Company, as part of his efforts to develop the village of Tompkinsville; though intended to build a highway across Staten Island, the company also received the right to run a ferry to New York. The Richmond Turnpike Company is the direct ancestor of the current municipal ferry. In 1817, the Richmond Turnpike Company began to run the first motorized ferry between New York and Staten Island, the steam-powered ''Nautilus.'' It was commanded by Captain John De Forest, the brother-in-law of a young man named Cornelius Vanderbilt . In 1838, Vanderbilt, who had grown wealthy in the steamboat business in New York waters, bought control of the company. Except for a brief period in the 1850s, he would remain the dominant figure in the ferry until the Civil War , when he sold it to the Staten Island Railway , led by his brother Jacob Vanderbilt. (Three of the Staten Island ferries were requisitioned by the United States Army for service in the war, but none ever returned to New York harbor.) ''Westfield'' Disaster During the 1850s, Staten Island developed rapidly, and the ferry accordingly grew in importance. But the poor condition of the boats became a source of chronic complaint, as did the limited schedule. The opening of the Staten Island Railway in 1860 increased traffic further and newer boats were acquired, named after the Towns of Richmond County which covered the whole of Staten Island. One of these ferries, the ''Westfield'', came to grief when its boiler exploded while sitting in its slip at South Ferry at about 1:30 in the afternoon of July 30, 1871. Within days of the disaster, some 85 were identified as dead and hundreds injured, and several more were added to the death toll in the weeks following. Jacob Vanderbilt, president of the Staten Island Railway, was arrested for murder, though he escaped conviction. The engineer of the ''Westfield'' was a black man, which aroused openly racist commentary in New York's newspapers, though Vanderbilt stoutly defended his employee. B&O Railroad acquires SIRT and ferry operations The competing ferry services that were all finally controlled by Vanderbilt were sold to the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad and operated by the Staten Island Rapid Transit Railroad (SIRT, successor to Staten Island Railway) in 1884. ]] ''Northfield'' Accident and City ownership On June 14 , 1901 the SIRT ferry "Northfield" was leaving the ferry port at Whitehall when it was struck by a Jersey Central Ferry and sank immediately. Fortunately there were two full deck crews aboard the "Northfield" and their swift actions ensured that out of 995 passengers aboard, only five ended up missing, presumed drowned. This accident, though minor in comparison to the Westfield Disaster, was seized upon by the City of New York as a justification to seize control of the SIRT ferries, Staten Island now being officially part of New York City, as the Borough of Richmond. Ferry service was assumed by the city's Department of Docks and Ferries in 1905. Five new ferries, one named for each of the new boroughs, were commissioned. CURRENT OPERATIONS Today the Staten Island Ferry annually carries over 19 million passengers on a 5.2 mile (8.4 km) run that takes approximately 25 minutes each way. Service is provided 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Each day approximately five boats transport almost 65,000 passengers during 104 boat trips. Over 33,000 trips are made annually. There are nine ferry boats in four Classes currently in service:
Once out of service New York's ferries have not always ended their careers. One was a restaurant in New Jersey. Two others, The Cornelius Kolff and the Private Joseph Merrell, temporarily housed prison inmates for 15 years on Riker's Island . Both vessels were scrapped in 2004. FERRY INCIDENTS There have been some incidents during the Staten Island Ferry's official lifetime.
waterfront is visible in the background]] THE FERRY IN FILM AND TELEVISION The ferry appears regularly in Television Show s about New York City such as Sex And The City and has been featured prominently in several movies, including the opening credits of the 1988 movie '' Working Girl ''. In 2003 , the ferry was the subject of the documentary '' Ferry Tales '', which followed the conversations of women in the powder room during the morning commute. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short. There was also an original one-act play play from "Scenes from the Staten Island Ferry" produced by Sundog Theatre, an Island company that produces new works and provides arts education for schools.
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