How to Get Around Staten Island on a Budget: 20 Best Ways in 2027

Key Takeaways

• The free ferry is the whole trick — the Staten Island Ferry costs $0, runs 24 hours a day, and takes about 25 minutes from Whitehall to St. George
• A full day on the island costs $3 — free ferry in, $3.00 railway, and a local bus on the free transfer
• Most railway rides are free — fares are collected only at St. George and Tompkinsville, so a ride between any other two stations costs nothing
• The NYC Ferry fare went up — one-way is $5.00 since October 19, 2026, with a 10-trip pass at $30, or $3.00 per ride
• Driving is the expensive way in — the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge costs $7.46 with a NY E-ZPass and $12.03 by mail

Written by Sarah Thompson · Fact-checked by Alex Freeman, Editor-in-Chief · Last verified November 2026

You step off the boat at St. George Terminal, the Manhattan skyline behind you across the harbor, and you have spent exactly $0 so far. The ferry that brought you here is free, the railway waiting inside the terminal costs $3.00, and most rides on that railway cost nothing at all. Here are the 20 ways, cheapest first, with the real fare on each.

The short answer: take the free Staten Island Ferry from Whitehall to St. George, ride the Staten Island Railway or a local bus for $3.00, and use the free transfer between them. Everything else on this page is a variation on that.

The $0 start: the Staten Island Ferry

1. Staten Island Ferry — $0. The ferry between Whitehall Terminal in Lower Manhattan and St. George Terminal on Staten Island is free by law — no rate of ferriage may be charged for foot passengers on the city-run ferry, under New York City Administrative Code §19-304. It runs 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, the crossing takes about 25 minutes over 5.2 miles, with boats every 15 minutes at weekday rush hours and every 30 minutes at other times. There is no ticket to buy, and anyone near the terminal trying to sell you one is running a scam. The ferry carries no cars. If you are flying in, the guide to booking transportation from Newark Airport to Manhattan covers the same kind of airport-to-borough journey.

The $3 island: railway and buses

2. Staten Island Railway from St. George — $3.00. The railway is the island’s only rapid transit line: 21 stations over 14 miles from St. George Terminal to Tottenville, running 24 hours a day. The fare is $3.00, the same as the subway. The full ride takes about 55 to 60 minutes, and trains are timed to meet the ferry at St. George.

3. Staten Island Railway between intermediate stations — $0. This is the fare rule most visitors miss: fares are collected only at St. George and Tompkinsville. If your trip neither starts nor ends at one of those two stations, the ride is free — New Dorp to Great Kills and Eltingville to Tottenville, all free.

4. Local bus — $3.00. Every local bus on Staten Island costs $3.00 with OMNY, the same as the subway. The buses cover the parts of the island the railway does not reach — the west shore, the south shore, and the crosstown routes.

5. S79-SBS Select Bus Service — $3.00. The S79-SBS runs along Hylan Boulevard, the island’s main east-shore spine, with fewer stops and faster boarding than a local bus — and it costs the same $3.00.

6. Free OMNY transfer within 2 hours — $0. Tap the same card or device on the railway and then on a bus within two hours, and the second ride is free. The same rule covers a bus-to-bus transfer and a bus-to-subway transfer in Manhattan.

7. OMNY $35 weekly cap — $35 maximum. Tap the same card or device for subway, local bus, and railway rides, and once you have paid $35 inside a rolling seven-day period, every further ride in that period is free. At $3.00 a ride, the cap is reached on the twelfth ride.

What it costs: the full table

Every way onto and around Staten Island, with the fare as published for 2026. The free options are first, because they are the answer for most visitors. The car service from JFK to Binghamton page shows how a long-distance car service is priced, for comparison with the booked-car row at the bottom of this table.

Way	Price	What It Covers	Best For
Staten Island Ferry	$0	Whitehall to St. George, about 25 minutes, 24/7	Everyone — the way in and out
Staten Island Railway	$3.00	21 stations, St. George to Tottenville, 24/7	North to south, east shore
Railway between intermediate stations	$0	Rides not starting or ending at St. George or Tompkinsville	Moving around the east shore
Local bus	$3.00	All local and Select Bus Service routes	West shore, south shore, crosstown
OMNY transfer	$0	Second ride free within 2 hours, same card or device	Railway plus bus in one trip
OMNY weekly cap	$35 max in 7 days	Subway, local bus, and railway rides	Week-long stays
Reduced fare	$1.50	Seniors 65 and over, qualifying disabilities; $17.50 cap	Eligible riders
Children under 44 inches	$0	Free when accompanied by an adult	Families
NYC Ferry, St. George route	$5.00	St. George to Battery Park City and Midtown West	Midtown and Lower Manhattan
NYC Ferry 10-trip pass	$30.00	Ten rides, $3.00 per ride	Regular commuters
NYC Ferry 2-day unlimited	$15.00	Unlimited NYC Ferry rides for two days	Packed weekends
Express bus SIM to Manhattan	$7.25	Direct bus to Manhattan; $3.60 reduced off-peak	Commuters who want a seat
S53/S93 bus from Bay Ridge	$3.00	Brooklyn to Staten Island across the Verrazzano	Coming from Brooklyn
Drive, NY E-ZPass	$7.46	Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, each direction	Drivers with a NY tag
Drive, Tolls by Mail	$12.03	Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, each direction, billed by plate	Nobody — avoid it
Split a booked car or van	Written per-trip quote, split per person	Door-to-door car from St. George or the airport	Groups of four or more

The fare rules that save real money

8. Reduced fare — $1.50. Seniors 65 and over and riders with qualifying disabilities pay half the base fare — $1.50 on the subway, local buses, and the railway — with a reduced weekly cap of $17.50.

9. Children under 44 inches ride free — $0. A child under 44 inches tall rides free when accompanied by an adult, on the subway, buses, and the railway — up to three children per fare-paying adult. Two adults and two small children cross the island for $6.00 in fares — and $0 on the ferry.

10. The single-ride ticket trap — $3.50. A paper single-ride ticket costs $3.50, fifty cents more than the $3.00 OMNY tap, and it does not count toward the weekly cap, and it allows only a bus-to-bus transfer within two hours — no subway-to-bus or bus-to-subway transfer. Tap a contactless card or phone instead — the MetroCard is no longer sold or refilled.

The $5 boat and the $7.25 bus

11. NYC Ferry, St. George route — $5.00. The NYC Ferry is a separate, paid system from the free Staten Island Ferry: from St. George to Battery Park City and Midtown West at Pier 79 in about 35 minutes, and since December 2025 on to Bay Ridge, Atlantic Avenue, and Wall Street at Pier 11. The one-way fare is $5.00 since October 19, 2026, when it rose from $4.50 — any guide still quoting $4.50 is out of date.

12. NYC Ferry 10-trip pass — $30.00, or $3.00 per ride. Ten rides for $30 brings each crossing to the same $3.00 as the subway.

13. NYC Ferry 2-day unlimited — $15.00. Unlimited NYC Ferry rides for two days, app only — a weekend of waterfront hopping for $15 in total.

14. Express bus SIM to Manhattan — $7.25. The SIM express buses run from Staten Island direct to Manhattan with a guaranteed seat. At $7.25 a ride they are the most expensive bus on the island, and they are worth it exactly when the ferry plus subway would take twice as long. The reduced fare is $3.60, off-peak only.

Driving: the toll trap and how to beat it

15. S53/S93 bus across the Verrazzano from Bay Ridge — $3.00. Coming from Brooklyn, skip the bridge toll entirely: the S53 and S93 buses run from Bay Ridge across the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge to Staten Island for a $3.00 bus fare.

16. Drive with a NY E-ZPass — $7.46, not $12.03. If you drive onto Staten Island, the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge toll is charged in both directions — split tolling has been in effect since December 2020, and the bridge has been cashless since 2017. A car pays $7.46 with a properly mounted NY E-ZPass, $9.79 if the tag is not read, and $12.03 by Tolls by Mail. Eligible Staten Island residents on the MTA resident plan pay $2.75.

No wheels at all: walking and cycling

17. Walk the St. George waterfront — $0. The north shore around the terminal is walkable: the waterfront promenade, the streets of St. George, and the walk to the ferry landing all cost nothing. Staten Island is big — 14 miles end to end on the railway — so walking is a way to explore one neighborhood, not a way to cross the island.

18. Cycle with your own bike — $0. Bicycles ride free on the Staten Island Ferry, and the island’s east shore has room to ride. There is no bike-share system on Staten Island, so this way needs your own bike — bring it on the ferry and take it back the same way.

When a car is the budget option

19. Split a rideshare or taxi from St. George — varies. One car from the ferry terminal to the far end of the island, split four ways, can cost less per person than four separate transit fares plus the time. Rideshare prices vary with demand, and taxis on Staten Island are metered — so agree the split before you ride. The pick-up location for the flat-rate taxi at Midtown Manhattan page explains how the flat-rate taxi system works on the Manhattan side, and the taxi from JFK to Long Beach flat rate and time it takes to travel from JFK to South Nyack by limo pages cover flat-rate pricing and timing on comparable trips.

20. Split a booked JetBlack car or van — written per-trip quote. A booked car from St. George, the airport, or Manhattan to a Staten Island address is priced as a written per-trip quote — no fixed fare is published for Staten Island trips, so the table says so plainly instead of borrowing the $65 JFK–Manhattan fare. Split among four or more people, a quoted car is often cheaper per person than four transit fares plus a taxi for the last mile, and it carries the luggage that the railway does not. The guide to handling luggage and any special requests during your car service covers what to ask for when you book, and the minimum rental period for limo services, rules on hiring a limo for an hour without a driver, and guide to what a hot black car service is pages cover minimums, driver rules, and vehicle class.

A $3 day and an $8 day

Here is the arithmetic, with nothing hidden. A $3 day: Staten Island Ferry from Manhattan to St. George for $0, Staten Island Railway south for $3.00, and a local bus on the free transfer within two hours for $0 — $3.00 in total, and the ferry home is free too. An $8 day: NYC Ferry from Midtown West to St. George for $5.00, Staten Island Railway for $3.00, and a local bus on the free transfer for $0 — $8.00 in total, with the Midtown landing the free ferry does not serve.

• Tap the same card or device every time — the transfer and the cap only track one card
• Never pay for a Staten Island Ferry ticket — the boat is free and anyone selling tickets is running a scam
• Check the NYC Ferry fare before you ride — it is $5.00 since October 19, 2026, not $4.50
• Ride the railway between intermediate stations for free — fares are collected only at St. George and Tompkinsville
• Drive with a NY E-ZPass or take the ferry — Tolls by Mail costs $12.03 each way

The bottom line on Staten Island on a budget

Getting around Staten Island on a budget is not a puzzle — it is a sequence. The free ferry gets you there, the $3.00 railway or bus moves you around, the free transfer joins them, and the $35 weekly cap ends the spending for the week. The paid ferry at $5.00 and the express bus at $7.25 buy speed and a landing the free options do not serve, and the Verrazzano toll is the one cost to plan around. The honest trade-off is speed: the free and $3 options are the cheapest, but they are also the slowest, and they stop at the water. When the bus does not go where you are going, split a car — four people in one quoted car beat four separate fares, and the cheapest car service from JFK to Blooming Grove page covers the same budget question on another long route.

Questions travelers ask

Sources

• New York Explained — Why the Staten Island Ferry is free: free by NYC Administrative Code §19-304, 5.2 miles, about 25 minutes, 24 hours a day, accessed 2026-11-11
• Ferry Riders — Staten Island Ferry schedule and frequency, accessed 2026-11-11
• MTA — Staten Island Railway timetable, effective November 2, 2025: 24-hour service, free transfer on the same card or device, children under 44 inches free, accessed 2026-11-11
• Info for NYC — Staten Island Railway: 21 stations, 14 miles, fares only at St. George and Tompkinsville, accessed 2026-11-11
• MTA — NYCTA Passenger Tariff, effective January 4, 2026: base fare $3.00, reduced fare $1.50, 7-day cap $35, express bus $7.25, accessed 2026-11-11
• NYC Economic Development Corporation — NYC Ferry fare increases: one-way $4.50 to $5.00, 10-trip $29 to $30, reduced $1.45 to $1.50, effective October 19, 2026, accessed 2026-11-11
• NYC311 — NYC Ferry: St. George route stops and running time, accessed 2026-11-11
• Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge toll guide — MTA 2026 toll schedule: $7.46 NY E-ZPass, $12.03 Tolls by Mail, $2.75 resident rate, accessed 2026-11-11
• JetBlack Transportation — owner-confirmed service facts (booking, cancellation, tip, hourly rates, child seats, wheelchair-accessible vehicles), confirmed 2026-10-26, accessed 2026-11-11

JetBlack Transportation · 34 W 34th St, New York, NY 10001 · +1-646-214-4828 · Prices verified November 2026 and subject to change — confirm your fixed quote in writing before you travel