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Open Thread Mondays: Screw Staten Island!


by on Sep 13th, 2010

Staten Island Ferry - stealing our money with every rider // Source: Daniel Schwen via Wikimedia Commons

Yeah, I said it: screw Staten Island. I never liked it, and I wish we could just gift it to New Jersey. And when we gift it, we better get a tax break for all the wonderful things bestowed upon it for being a member of the City of New York.

Among all those wonderful things, there’s one that really irks me: the ferry. The free ferry.

Let’s back up a second. I was talking to BrooklynQ last week, discussing the MTA fare hikes and joking about seeing it go back down once the economy kicks in again. You know we were joking, because we’re all aware that once the city starts charging for something, prices only ever go up – never down.

That is a rule; one we all know too well. But every rule has its exception, and ’round here that exception is the Staten Island ferry. I’ll say it again: the free Staten Island ferry, operated by the Department of Transportation.

It wasn’t always free. When it was established as a municipal service in 1905 it cost a nickel – same as the subway. But in 1948, when the city raised subway fares to 10 cents, the ferry still stayed five. And, though subway riders weathered through five fare hikes in the same period of time, ferry admission remained a nickel for a total of 70 years. (Can you imagine subway fares remaining static for 70 years?!) Finally, in 1975, it shot up to a whopping 25 cents, though you only had to pay one way, and at the time it cost the city 50 cents per ferry rider. It took another 15 years until it got raised to 50 cents in 1990, when the MTA began charging $1.15 for subway and bus service.

And then the unthinkable happened: in 1997, Mayor Rudy Giuliani altogether eliminated fares for the Staten Island ferry.

The explanation from hizzonah was that it’s unfair that Staten Island commuters must pay three fares in order to get to work: one for the bus to the ferry, another for the ferry, and then another for the subway ride uptown. Surely, it had nothing to do with the fact that elections were coming up, and didn’t contribute at all to Giuliani’s election victory in 1993, which came with the crucial support of island voters.

But Staten Islanders be damned – the ferry ought not be free. It’s an expensive means of transportation, and when similar ferry service was proposed for Sheepshead Bay, they said it needed a $6.00 fare in order to cover a ride that would be only 15 minutes more than the Staten Island ferry’s. So why does Staten Island get a free ride on taxpayer money, while we face fare hike after fare hike?

Of course, suggest this to Staten Islanders, as one commenter did on the New York Times’ website, and they’ll start shouting you down as spoiled by all our amazing subway infrastructure that takes us to the city. That infrastructure that we pay for, mind you. But what about Brooklyn’s transportation-starved neighborhoods Bergen Beach, Mill Basin and Gerritsen Beach? If Staten Islanders get free services simply because they lack a subway to Manhattan, shouldn’t these neighborhoods?

No. That’s senseless and unfair to the rest of us. You choose where you live and take mass transit options into consideration. Staten Island (and many outerborough neighborhoods) has cheap housing because there’s a lack of connectivity to the bigger city, not in spite of it. The rest of the city doesn’t owe them anything for their choosing a remote location, and taxpayers should no longer be carrying Staten Islander’s water.

Enact fares on the Staten Island ferry now, and get these pikers paying into the mass transit system that we all benefit from.

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  • Gene2

    No comment? wow

  • http://www.bksouthie.com/ Brian Hedden | BK Southie

    Don’t forget about the sweet discount Island residents get on the V-Z bridge toll. They can cross for about $5.50 with E-ZPass (remember collection is only when entering the island), where the rest of us pay over $9 with E-ZPass and $11 in cash. So if you live in the shadow of the V-Z Bridge on the Staten Island side, you’re special; if you live in the shadow of the bridge on the Bay Ridge side, you’re screwed.

    Pisses me the hell off.

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=665079815 Allan Berkovitz

      Agreed! ticks me off as well. I have to travel through Staten Island every day, back and forth (I work in NJ), and it’s expensive. I get it, there’s no way on or off the island without paying, and if you live there, maybe you deserve a break, but the same holds true for anyone living in NYC. It’s almost impossible to leave or enter NYC without paying a fare somewhere, and if you live in Brooklyn, it’s more difficult than most other places because we have to travel through other boroughs and deal with tolls on bridges or tunnels that connect to them as well.

      I say, give NYC residents a bigger break, charge the NJ, CT, MASS and PA people the higher rates.

      • Jamesforsyth

        I’m with you. The bastards in Staten Island fought against building the bridge in the first place. Now they get a discount for using it? Charge everyone the same rate. If anyone should pay more, it is the people in Staten Island.

        • http://www.flickr.com/photos/lisanne001 Lisanne!

          The people against the bridge were nth generation Staten Islanders. The ones using it are in large degree transplanted Brooklynites. Traitors!

          • Anonymous

            u mean to say that before the brooklyn “traitors”, there were nth generation staten islanders? were they, like, the amish?????????????

          • http://www.flickr.com/photos/lisanne001 Lisanne!

            More like West Virginians.

    • BrooklynBus

      I was going to make the same comment this morning, but I had to go somewhere.

  • JR

    The DOT wants to make a ferry line for Sheepshead Bay residents… There was a meeting July 22nd 2009 about it… And if memory serves me right the people didn’t want to implement it because it would cause more traffic… So we too could have had free ferry access to Manhattan… But no, since the good ole people didn’t want more traffic (and if this made any sense to them, there would be less traffic because people would be taking the ferry) Sheepshead Bay has lost out on free service and we are instead left with Construction of the B & Q lines for the past two years and its not going to be over anytime soon…

    • JR

      wow didn’t see that in the article… umm $6 bucks huh… well I’m sure that would be to cover the construction cost of the whole thing and then it would drop off…

    • arkanya

      After September 11, 2001 we had a free Ferry to Manhattan. Don’t you remember? We could have that, but it was turned in to the water taxi! Though I live on Sheepshead Bay, I don’t like an idea of having a free ferry there. Brooklyn has a lot of undeveloped areas, that could be used for a free transportation stations that wouldn’t interfere with any residential areas!!!!!!!

      • JR

        I was 12 then… nope don’t remember it

    • BrooklynBus

      Don’t remember anything about the ferry being free. Community Board 15 came out against it, probably because they didn’t want “outsiders” driving into the neighborhood. Typical NIMBYs.

  • http://www.flickr.com/photos/lisanne001 Lisanne!

    I think the free ferry was a perk given to ex-Brooklynites who were big supporters of Guiliani. Oh, and an appeasement to their whiny borough president.

    When I was young there was no bridge. The only way to get on and off Staten Island was by Ferry, unless you wanted to go to New Jersey. And New Jersey is even worse than Staten Island, at least by reputation.

    A lot of people liked it that way. Staten Island was left to its own strangeness, and wouldn’t be bothered by people from the rest of the city. Look what the bridge did to it.

    It’s said that New York won Staten Island from New Jersey in a boat race. Let’s have another one and rig it so Jersey wins this time.

    • BrooklynBus

      The reason for the ferry as I recall was do to the reduced subway service necessitated by 9/11.

      • http://www.flickr.com/photos/lisanne001 Lisanne!

        I was referring to free service on the Staten Island Ferry. I wasn’t clear on that.

        • BrooklynBus

          Then I don’t understand your point. The Brooklyn -Staten Island ferry was never free. I believe it was discontinued when the NY SI ferry was still a nickel.

          • http://www.flickr.com/photos/lisanne001 Lisanne!

            I specifically mentioned Guiliani, so that would be 1997, long after the Brooklyn ferry ceased operation.

  • Arkanya

    I agree with an article 100%. SI is not an Alaska, so why residents of SI should have all privelegies living in NYC? As residents of Brooklyn, Queens, etc. we have to contribute more than residents of SI. I guess there is a reason, why SI houses and real estate taxes are lower than in any other part of NYC! This IS already a bargain for residing there. Why they should have a free transportation and discounted bridges in addition?

    • http://www.flickr.com/photos/lisanne001 Lisanne!

      Real estate values are based upon supply and demand. There’s still a lot of undeveloped land there; the population density is less. (Though far greater than it was in 1964) Did you know there were some people in Staten Island that opposed the building of the bridge? They were afraid of losing their semi-rural identity. They were quite right.

  • Guest

    I would say I agree with you, especially since they have tons of express buses to take them over to the city. SI has the most amount of express buses and their service was almost unchanged unlike Brooklyn for example where X29 was eliminated completely.
    And if they get unlimited express Metro cards to take express bus to work, then any additional transportaion in the city does not cost them a penny and there will not be any third fare. They should at least charged $2.25 per ride and have them use metrocards. For people who buy unlimited Metro Cards that would change absolutely nothing, but those who take ferry infrequently can pay per ride with MetroCard and have a transfer. They should charge at least $2.25 one way.
    On the other hand, I would not envy SI residents too much – they have landfills, I am glad I am in Brooklyn

  • SoBrooklynMan

    Another thing that is completely unfair is that on the SIR if you ride between Tottenville and Stapleton (not sure about Tompkinsville at this point) you ride absolutely free. If you want to take the ferry at St. George Terminal or are taking the SIR and coming from the city, the MTA charges you. This is a smack in the face to every brooklynite and every other New Yorker that does not live in the swamp. Why should we have to pay if we want to go from Coney Island to Sheepshead Bay Road? Stapleton to New Dorp is roughly the same distance. Interbourough travel is free on the SIR, it should be the same way for the other boroughs also, or at the very least the other “outer” boroughs.

    • http://www.flickr.com/photos/lisanne001 Lisanne!

      Back in ancient tymes the conductor would collect the fares. If you didn’t pay they threw you off the train. Them hills had thorny bushes. It was great sport to watch them varmints hop down to the street, yelping with pain.

      But they don’t have conductors anymore. And the engineers are recruited from the old trainmen’s home.

      For free it worth every penny. And not one cent more.

    • BrooklynBus

      That’s about to change. The MTA will soon be charging everyone to ride SIRT.

      • BrooklynBus

        Correction. I believe turnstiles will be or have already been installed at Tompkinsville so in order to ride for free using the ferry, you would have to walk a mile. Intraborough ridership is a very small portion of total ridership. If there were more and better bus connections to SIRT, and if three vehicles were allowed for one fare that wouldn’t be the case.

  • BrooklynBus

    Ned, one point you didn’t mention was that DOT and the MTA claimed it would have been too expensive to install the new high MetroCard turnstiles in the terminal and along the SIRT. So not only did Staten Islanders get a free ferry, they also got to ride SIRT for free if they were willing to walk the half mile from St. George to Tompkinsville. The MTA rationalized that few fares would be lost since most people would pay when they changed to the subway in Lower Manhattan. Of course, as you stated, the whole thing was political. The Republicans were in power and Staten Island is largely Republican.

    • http://www.flickr.com/photos/lisanne001 Lisanne!

      Yes, and they have a point, I think. But they did modify the tracks tom accommodate certain MTA type trains. Of course that was somewhat necessary, it would have been more expensive to order new train for SIR using the original track specs. So SIR gets old MTA trains, I guess.

      • BrooklynBus

        I don’t think that’s right. The ones in service now were specifically bought and overhauled for SI. It was true in the 1950s when the old el cars were put in use in Staten Island.

  • winson

    Staten Islanders get a lot of benefits. Not only is the ferry free, bus service is the fastest in the city (since the borough is very rural), and the Staten Island Railway is free except at St. George, Tompkinsville (it used to be free here as well until 2009 after the MTA realized a lot of riders got off here and walked to St. George, which was not too far down, to avoid paying the fare), and Tottenville. All SIR stations need to be paid and a 25 or 50 cent ferry ride would not be that bad.

    • http://www.flickr.com/photos/lisanne001 Lisanne!

      They would have to maintain Metrocard machines, which is more than than they apparently want to do.

      There’s hardly any ridership on the SIR. Charging a fare wouldn’t do much to pay for it. All the revenue comes at rush hour. The rest of the day it’s a ghost train.

    • Office

      Our bus service sucks because our roads are packed with cars because we have not decent public transportation and every guido family that moves from Brooklyn had 1.5 cars per member. The traffic here is insane.

      You guys are also misses that Staten Island full of well paid people, we get our asses taxed off and all the money goes to the other boroughs. All we have is the Ferry and the almost free train (both not run with the DOT and their fares have never gone to their budget anyway.)

      The reason they are not part of the DOT directly is because the city gives us nothing.

  • Anonymous

    btw the Roosevelt island tram costs money and it connects the city to an island. its a bit unfair that the staten island ferry is free when it transports so many more people.

  • Office

    You got some facts wrong.

    1. The Ferry is not run by the DOT in a sense. When the DOT goes on strike, the ferry doesn’t. It is on its own.
    2. The fare was eliminated because they do less inspections on it when it is a free vessel. The commuter story was a cover to sound better while they screwed Staten Islanders’ safety over in favor of saving a few bucks. And it is the 3rd largest tourist attraction in NYC. They wanted to attract tourism at all costs.
    3. Every time the city needs money they raise our bridge and then give it to Long Island to make their commute cheaper.

    Ask for the bridge money and leave the ferry alone. There is no damn reason Staten Islanders and Brooklynites should be paying $11 (going to $13 in the hikes) so rich Long Islanders can catch a break. If that money was given to the two boroughs the bridge connects, life would be good.

    • BrooklynBus

      DOT does administer the ferry. I believe they also run it unless its contracted out.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1098619556 Anonymous

    I was really hoping that last tornado was going to finally push Staten Island over the New Jersey border where it belongs. Oh well, there’s always next year!

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  • Joseph Carrota

    City law states that NYC must provide, at minimum, at least one (1) mode of a free way to get between all boroughs. That’s why the SI is free.

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