The Staten Island Ferry is a fare-free passenger ferry route operated by the New York City Department of Transportation. The ferry's single route runs 5.2 miles (8.4 km) through New York Harbor between the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and Staten Island, with ferry boats making the trip in about 25 minutes. The ferry operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with boats leaving every 15 to 20 minutes during peak hours and every 30 minutes at other times. Apart from NYC Ferry's St. George route, it is the only direct mass-transit connection between the two boroughs. Historically, the Staten Island Ferry has charged a relatively low fare compared to other modes of transit in the area; and since 1997, the route has been fare-free. The Staten Island Ferry is one of several ferry systems in the New York City area and is operated separately from systems like NYC Ferry and NY Waterway.
Staten Island Ferry
The MV John F. Kennedy
The MV Spirit of America
Hunchback (1864–1865) on the James River in Virginia during the Civil War
A ferry is a watercraft that carries passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water taxi or water bus.
A ferry underway in Penang, Malaysia
The number of actual seats has traditionally been very limited like on this Japanese passenger ferry, with larger spaces dedicated to tatami or broadloom areas where passengers can sit or lie down (on Shikoku and Kyushu ferry, 2014).
Inside a short distance ferry, the Yamagawa-Nejime Ferry [ja], Kagoshima, Japan (2023)
MS Silja Symphony leaving Helsinki via the Kustaanmiekka strait to the Baltic Sea.