Commuting Strategies 2 – The Staten Island Ferry
You don’t have to worry. It’s not the proverbial three hour tour. And hey, it’s free so what could possibly go wrong?
A lot if you don’t know what you’re doing.
Before I begin, a disclaimer: Recently there apparently have been lots of problems with evangelical Christian preachers roaming the boat during the morning rush and early evening rush hours. Because my office hours end a little later than most and because I have to come down from midtown I hit the tail end of the evening rush. Apparently these preachers have gone home by the time I get there. Either that, or my choice of seat locations is preacher-free (another reason to listen to my advice).
The first key to a good ferry ride is properly positioning yourself in the terminal. Most nights I don’t care about being first on or first off the ferry because getting a seat on the Great Kills local train is not an issue. So I’ll hang back, even step outside on the patio behind the escalators and enjoy the weather. But if you must get on the ferry first to get a seat up front here are a few tips:
If you will be entering through Door 1, just get up front as close as possible. This is actually pretty easy to do prior to the boat entering the slip as the crowd is loosely packed around the door. Once the boat comes in and is visible through the windows you’ve got a tougher task. In that case, I say just aim yourself in a straight line at the pillar between the doors. This will move the quickest as you don’t have the side-cut-in people merging on the edges of the doors and will put you in position past the door to choose which ramp to use (which you’ll do based on which ramp is moving quickest or has the fewest people with strollers or the elderly). In the old days the quick dodge for the right side slips was to board on the street level but nowadays they reserve that for bicyclists and the handicapped.
The less-used door 2 offers more options. The trick I discovered is that if you can’t get right up front but you position yourself near the gap between the second and third benches and shoot that gap aiming straight for the pillar between the doors you’ll zoom right on ahead of a lot of people. I don’t know why this is, I just discovered it by accident one day when I was sitting over there and was caught still reading my book when the doors opened. Repeated experiments have shown it to always work. Unfortunately, door 2 is usually only used in off-hours unless the right side slips are under repair so this technique cannot be employed often.
Once on board, you need to decide what kind of ride you want? Want to deal with tourists, kids, and other loud and annoying types? The main and upper levels are the place to be. Though I will admit that there is a certain entertainment value to sitting upstairs on the Brooklyn side of the boat watching tourists get confused as to why they can’t see the Statue of Liberty.
My preferred spot is the bottom level, the level that on the Kennedy-Class boats used to be the smoker’s deck. It’s the deck for the antisocial, the smelly bike riders, the drunks and others seeking peace and quiet. In other words it’s home for me. One thing you need to be aware of down below is that if you’re on one of the 1980s era boats (the ones without space for vehicles) you want to sit in the middle area of seats. The outer areas vibrate like you’re on a bed in a cheap motel and you wind up being either seasick, aroused or most typically both at the same time. So stick to the middle unless that’s the sort of thing you enjoy.
Once you make it to SI you’re on your own. There aren’t many tricks to riding the SI Railway, it more or less is what it is. I don’t ride the local buses home so I can’t help you there. At this point, it’s choose your own adventure! What fun, huh?
A lot if you don’t know what you’re doing.
Before I begin, a disclaimer: Recently there apparently have been lots of problems with evangelical Christian preachers roaming the boat during the morning rush and early evening rush hours. Because my office hours end a little later than most and because I have to come down from midtown I hit the tail end of the evening rush. Apparently these preachers have gone home by the time I get there. Either that, or my choice of seat locations is preacher-free (another reason to listen to my advice).
The first key to a good ferry ride is properly positioning yourself in the terminal. Most nights I don’t care about being first on or first off the ferry because getting a seat on the Great Kills local train is not an issue. So I’ll hang back, even step outside on the patio behind the escalators and enjoy the weather. But if you must get on the ferry first to get a seat up front here are a few tips:
If you will be entering through Door 1, just get up front as close as possible. This is actually pretty easy to do prior to the boat entering the slip as the crowd is loosely packed around the door. Once the boat comes in and is visible through the windows you’ve got a tougher task. In that case, I say just aim yourself in a straight line at the pillar between the doors. This will move the quickest as you don’t have the side-cut-in people merging on the edges of the doors and will put you in position past the door to choose which ramp to use (which you’ll do based on which ramp is moving quickest or has the fewest people with strollers or the elderly). In the old days the quick dodge for the right side slips was to board on the street level but nowadays they reserve that for bicyclists and the handicapped.
The less-used door 2 offers more options. The trick I discovered is that if you can’t get right up front but you position yourself near the gap between the second and third benches and shoot that gap aiming straight for the pillar between the doors you’ll zoom right on ahead of a lot of people. I don’t know why this is, I just discovered it by accident one day when I was sitting over there and was caught still reading my book when the doors opened. Repeated experiments have shown it to always work. Unfortunately, door 2 is usually only used in off-hours unless the right side slips are under repair so this technique cannot be employed often.
Once on board, you need to decide what kind of ride you want? Want to deal with tourists, kids, and other loud and annoying types? The main and upper levels are the place to be. Though I will admit that there is a certain entertainment value to sitting upstairs on the Brooklyn side of the boat watching tourists get confused as to why they can’t see the Statue of Liberty.
My preferred spot is the bottom level, the level that on the Kennedy-Class boats used to be the smoker’s deck. It’s the deck for the antisocial, the smelly bike riders, the drunks and others seeking peace and quiet. In other words it’s home for me. One thing you need to be aware of down below is that if you’re on one of the 1980s era boats (the ones without space for vehicles) you want to sit in the middle area of seats. The outer areas vibrate like you’re on a bed in a cheap motel and you wind up being either seasick, aroused or most typically both at the same time. So stick to the middle unless that’s the sort of thing you enjoy.
Once you make it to SI you’re on your own. There aren’t many tricks to riding the SI Railway, it more or less is what it is. I don’t ride the local buses home so I can’t help you there. At this point, it’s choose your own adventure! What fun, huh?
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