Staten Island Ferry, The by Theodore W Scull
Soft Cover
96 pages
Copyright 1982
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements 4
Introduction 5
I. Why The Ferry? - Water, Water Everywhere 6
Ii. Going Aboard Sightseeing From The Saloon Deck 16
Iii. Going Ashore - Touring Staten Island 35
Iv. The Main Business - A Ride At Rush Hour 50
V. A Weekend Trip - Tourists & New Yorkers Out For A Lark 60
Vi. Below Decks-In The Engine Room Of A Steamboat, A Diesel Ferry & A Meeting With The First Mate 72
Vii. The Dawn Of A New Era-A Great Day In The Morning 88
The Ferry Schedule 92
How To Get Down To The Ferry 93
Current Fleet List & Biographical Notes 94
Bibliography 96
INTRODUCTION
The Staten Island Ferry is a lovable American institution. But far more important than that, the huge orange and blue ferryboats carry over 21,000,000 passengers a year and offer the most commodious form of mass transportation in New York City. New York is a big place, and the latest generation of ferries holds the largest passenger certificates for any vessel in the world.
For the tens of thousands of daily Staten Island commuters, the single most important group of riders, the half-hour trips every working day are quiet interludes between the hectic demands of urban life on either shore. As an integral part of the city's transit system, the ferry is also the best, and by far the cheapest, route for all New Yorkers to follow when traveling between the island boroughs of Manhattan and Staten Island, whether on business, going to school, for shopping expeditions, to visit friends and relatives or for a pleasurable boat ride. About 70,000 passengers use the ferries on an average weekday.
For the multitudes of visitors to New York City, the ferryboats are a destination themselves. Every year, 2.5 million of them take advantage of the finest and least expensive way to view Manhattan's unparalleled skyline, the Statue of Liberty and to observe close up the busiest seaport in America. You cannot beat a quarter for the one-hour ten-mile round trip. That comes to exactly 21/2 cents a mile. If you could walk across the Bay, the cost of shoe leather would be greater. And, for a few of the city's street people, the boats are a safe, warm, temporary home for a couple of trips.
In a special category are the hundreds of employees working for the Bureau of Ferry Operations, aboard the boats, and in the offices ashore. For them, the Staten Island Ferry is their paycheck, albeit not the fastest route to making a fortune. The Department's personnel provide an enviable level of service around the clock every day of the year and in any kind of weather.
For me, the Staten Island Ferry has been a regular outing since I first came to live in New York in 1964. From the decks of a dozen different ferryboats, I have recorded on film virtually every passenger liner that has entered the Port of New York, as well as scores of freighters and tankers, dozens of tugs, railway barges and pilot, police and fire boats. Besides the busy harbor traffic, I have photographed the spectacular and ever-changing city skyline in every light, on days ranging from some of the clearest on record to the worst blizzards in the month of February.
Now while doing research for this book, I have had the opportunity to go behind the scenes of the ferry's operation, and I have come away with a great sense of respect and fondness for all the men and women with whom I have worked over the last 15 months.
If anything is certain these days, the future seems assured for the last year-round public ferry operation in the city. The ridership figures are increasing every year, and the newest ferryboats, designed to carry 6000 passengers, reflect the rising demand.
A ride on the ferry can never be a dull experience because it stimulates one's senses. New York City, for the very same reasons, is never dull, and the Staten Island Ferry is very much part of New York.
