Originally Posted by
CGRA
t
Staten Island ferry : great experience. Very easy back to back.
Why they don't charge?
Originally Posted by
gfunkdave
The Staten Island Ferry is operated by the City, which pays for it.
Originally Posted by
CGRA
so thank you the city
Seems they drop the fees in the 90's
Yes there was a campaign by Island residents that a Mayoral candidate latched onto to remove the fare. It was also felt unfair (sorry for the pun) that people living on SI had to pay 2 fares (ferry and e.g.subway/bus) to get to work in Manhattan etc whereas people living in the other 4 boroughs only paid one. So the city dropped the fare and relinquished the ferry fare income - which in total was quite small anyway - and absorbed the costs 100%.
But of course the ferry is not free - just free at the point of use - and it costs the city taxpayers (which includes SI) around $5.50 per passenger in subsidy to operate the service.
There was a recent request from an SI politician to see how much might be raised if non New York City visitors were charged to use the ferry but the net income (after costs of staff and installing ticket gates etc etc) was calculated to be quite small.