Ferries and the rest

The water routes are the most pleasant way to move around New York, and one of them is free.

The Staten Island Ferry

Free, twenty-four hours a day, every day. It runs between Whitehall Terminal in Lower Manhattan and St. George on Staten Island, takes about twenty-five minutes, and passes close to the Statue of Liberty.

Because it is free and frequent, it is the single best-value thing to do in New York for a visitor with an hour to spare. You must disembark at each end and re-board for the return trip.

NYC Ferry

A separate, paid system operated for the city, with routes connecting Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx. It is not the MTA and it is not covered by OMNY fare capping — it has its own fare and its own app.

It is genuinely useful for waterfront-to-waterfront trips that the subway handles badly: much of the Brooklyn and Queens shoreline is far from a train but close to a landing. It is also weather-dependent and less frequent than the subway, so it rewards planning.

The Roosevelt Island Tramway

An aerial tram running from Manhattan at 59th Street across the East River to Roosevelt Island. It takes OMNY at the standard fare and includes free transfers on the same terms as the subway, which people routinely do not realise.

The view is the reason to take it. The F train also serves Roosevelt Island if the tram is not running.

Other water routes

Several private operators run commuter and tourist services across the Hudson to New Jersey and out to Governors Island seasonally. Fares, schedules and payment are entirely separate from the MTA in each case.

Check operators directly — ferry schedules are seasonal and service is suspended in bad weather more often than trains are.