Staten Island Ferry riders deserve better. How did it come to this?

Editor’s note: Staten Island Ferry riders have been forced to endure years of service disruptions caused by various complications around strict licensing requirements, labor disputes, short staffing and more. This story is the first part of a series that explores both the people and the issues involved in the plight of the iconic Staten Island Ferry, which was once one of the most reliable forms of mass transit in New York City.

The iconic Staten Island Ferry
is riddled with disruptions. Explore why.

Inside the interactive, click twice on “their role” to explore.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- For decades, Staten Islanders have endured one of the longest commutes in the country, as thousands of residents spend hours each day making their way to and from Manhattan.

As the only borough without a subway line connecting it to the rest of New York City, commuters have come to rely on the free service provided by the Staten Island Ferry, as their only alternatives are coughing up $6.75 per trip to ride MTA express buses or paying hundreds of dollars in tolls each month to sit in mind-numbing traffic.

Residents had grown accustomed to consistent, reliable service on the iconic, orange vessels that once crossed New York Harbor like clockwork, adhering to a schedule championed by borough officials that ensured riders would never be stuck waiting more than 30 minutes for the next boat, even when returning from the latest of nights or setting out in the earliest of mornings.

But that’s all changed.

Ferry riders are now finding that service levels can be reduced on any given day at the drop of hat, costing commuters valuable time that could otherwise be spent at home with friends, family and loved ones.

Most recently, the Staten Island Ferry was forced to run hourly service for more than 24 hours straight heading into Memorial Day Weekend, outraging riders whose trips to and from work were upended by the significant reduction in service.

“You can’t do this to us. Every day it’s something different,” rider Cynthia Johnson told the Staten Island Advance/SILive.com. “I’m a registered nurse, I need to get to work on-time to treat my patients.”

Fellow commuter Cynthia Davis added: “People need to be at work at a certain time or they could lose their job.”

Some of the issues have been simmering under the surface for over a decade, but the onset of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in spring 2020 brought things to a boiling point.

In the earliest days of the pandemic, Staten Island Ferry service was reduced to match the depleted ridership, with stay-at-home orders for non-essential workers causing ridership to plummet by 86%.

Service was incrementally restored as the city began to reopen, but shortly after the ferry returned to its full schedule, rolling service reductions, particularly during afternoon and overnight hours, became a regular occurrence.

The service reductions are a result of short staffing at the Staten Island Ferry, an issue that’s intensified in recent years as crew members continue to leave the job and the Department of Transportation (DOT) struggles to replace them during a national maritime workers shortage.

The short staffing, coupled with legal requirements set forth by the United States Coast Guard (USCG), has left the Staten Island Ferry in a situation where a single employee’s absence can disrupt service and force a shift to a reduced schedule.

So who’s involved with the ongoing service issues on the Staten Island Ferry?

The answer is a bit complicated, with various entities contributing to the recurring service reductions that have plagued Staten Island commuters over the past several years.

The Advance/SILive.com broke down the key players in the Staten Island Ferry saga, explaining their involvement in the situation and the role they must play in returning the once-reliable mass transit icon to its former glory.

New York City Department of Transportation (DOT)

The DOT is responsible for operating the Staten Island Ferry, one of the oldest and largest passenger ferry systems in the country, serving over 22 million passengers per year at its peak.

In recent years, the department has struggled to recruit and retain crew members, leading to insufficient staffing levels that have forced recurring service reductions, due to the department’s inability to adequately staff all scheduled trips.

Since 2018, the department has lost and failed to replace roughly two dozen crew members, according to data provided by the Marine Engineers Beneficial Association (MEBA), the union representing the captains, assistant captains, mates, engineers and chief engineers on the Staten Island Ferry.

In order to address the ongoing service issues, the DOT must find a way to return staffing levels to what they once were, ensuring that there are always sufficient crew members to provide the legally mandated, half-hourly service.

Local Law 88 of 2013, introduced by former Councilman James Oddo, requires that the Staten Island Ferry provide half-hourly service around-the-clock, but leaves room for the department to reduce service when events outside the department’s control prevent compliance with the half-hourly schedule.

In a recent letter to Staten Island’s elected officials, DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez outlined the various steps being taken by the department to address the ongoing staffing and service issues.

“Staten Island Ferry makes every effort to staff boats each day to comply with the schedule set forth by Local Law 88 and within the parameters set by the Safety Management System, as well as by the United States Coast Guard, and even as we face shortages, Staten Island Ferry has prioritized providing peak hour coverage for the majority of those using our system,” Rodriguez wrote.

The department has expanded its recruiting outreach efforts by attending professional maritime and veteran organization careers fairs, where officials are more likely to find candidates with the necessary qualifications.

The DOT is also in the early stages of developing a marine oilers apprenticeship program at the Staten Island Ferry, which would train workers on-site to receive their certifications with hopes of permanently hiring them once they’ve completed the program.

Officials are working with the Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS) to amend the marine oiler title to designate it as “hard-to-recruit,” which would remove the city’s residency requirement and increase the starting salary to the minimum incumbent salary, an $8,000 increase.

The department has also reallocated qualified office staff to cover open positions on the boat, trained qualified deckhands to serve as marine oilers and modified fleet personnel schedules.

Marine Engineers Beneficial Association (MEBA)

The Marine Engineers Beneficial Association is the international maritime union that represents various key operational titles at the Staten Island Ferry, including the captains, assistant captains, mates, engineers and chief engineers.

The union has been fighting the city for nearly 13 years for a “fair and respectful” new contract, with workers not having received a single wage increase since 2010.

Union officials claim the lack of a new contract and existing low wages have made it difficult for the city to recruit and retain workers during an ongoing national maritime workers shortage.

The union says that the compensation currently being offered by the city is far below what union members could make elsewhere in the country, making it difficult for the city to acquire and retain these workers, who often leave for better-paying jobs.

Roland Rexha, secretary/treasurer for MEBA and former shop steward at the Staten Island Ferry, recently sat down with the Staten Island Advance/SILive.com to discuss the service issues and ongoing contract negotiations.

He said he believes the city has intentionally dragged out contract negotiations in an attempt to make the union more willing to accept a new deal that would pay less than what the union believes its workers are entitled to.

“I think the city has done this purposefully, they’ve extended and pushed and made sure these decisions have taken as long as possible in a way to try to starve our membership to take a pattern agreement that’s well below what they deserve and well below what the industry pays for people with these licenses and education and experience,” Rexha said.

The staffing issues have now reached the point where Rexha claims the department doesn’t currently have enough crew members to run full service without forcing overtime and making employees skip legally-mandated safety drills.

“Right now we’re at a point where there are less people to operate the ferry than there are scheduled runs. What they’re doing now is they’re forcing people to work, instead of their eight-hour shift or 10-hour shift, they’re saying they have to work a 12-hour shift,” Rexha said.

“And instead of doing safety drills, what they’ve been saying to them is ‘No, we need you to cover the vessels, the vessel has to operate.’ So now they’re operating the vessels without doing the necessary Coast Guard safety drills which has been a problem,” he added. “We told them this is a safety issue, you’re actually putting the passengers’ safety at risk and it was met with ‘Oh, you’re only saying that because you’re out of contract.’”

The union said it is not opposed to working longer shifts, but that workers would need to be fairly compensated with higher base salaries so they don’t have to constantly work overtime in order to make ends meet.

“What we’ve been proposing the whole time is having us work more hours, bringing the base salary up to a point where people don’t have to come in for the overtime, they’re not overworked and at the same time, having this ferry run effectively, efficiently and safety,” said Rexha.

Securing a new contract with more competitive wages would likely make it easier for the DOT to fill the vacant MEBA-represented titles, which, in theory, would lead to fewer service disruptions for Staten Island commuters.

United States Coast Guard (USCG)

The United States Coast Guard (USCG) sets forth the licensing requirements and necessary certifications for various Staten Island Ferry crew titles.

The extensive training required for titles like captain and assistant captain limit the amount of prospective hires, making it difficult for the DOT to find qualified candidates for the jobs.

Rexha explained that members must pass numerous tests and receive various credentials from the USCG before even applying for a position at the ferry, in addition to needing hundreds, if not thousands, of days of previous sea time.

“To work [as a mate] at the Staten Island Ferry you need to complete six different modules besides the 1,100 days of sea time and then at that point you get a license,” Rexha said.

“So now you have a license, you are now a mate at the Staten Island Ferry. To be an assistant captain you have to have full pilotage ... and for our captains, you’ve got to have a license and you have to have a master’s license,” he continued. “That license is something like 1,700 days of sailing time, plus you have to have your pilotage, plus you have to retest on everything.”

Making matters worse, fewer and fewer cadets in the nation’s six maritime academies are passing the exams needed to earn their merchant marine officer’s licenses, according to maritime outlet gCaptain.

The Coast Guard mandates that each vessel be staffed with at least one captain, one assistant captain and various other positions, like chief marine engineers, marine engineers and marine oilers, in order to legally operate.

These requirements, coupled with the current short-staffing, mean that a single crew member’s absence can force the Staten Island Ferry to run reduced service, as it would be illegal and unsafe to operate the vessel without each position filled.

Mayor of New York City

The mayor of New York City is responsible for administering all city agencies, including the Department of Transportation, which operates the Staten Island Ferry, the Office of Labor Relations, which is responsible for negotiating union contracts, and the Office of Management and Budget, which determines city funding for various agencies.

While these responsibilities now rest on the shoulders of Mayor Eric Adams, the contract dispute between the city and MEBA has spanned three mayoral administrations, with former mayors Michael Bloomberg and Bill de Blasio also failing to oversee a successful contract agreement.

“[Former Mayor Michael] Bloomberg refused to deal with the unions in 2010 and pushed the contracts off to [former Mayor Bill] de Blasio,” Rexha said. “De Blasio offered a contract that was 10% over seven years, but the union felt the contract was unacceptable.”

The union rejected the contract, because in 2003, following a Staten Island Ferry crash that killed 11 people, the city commissioned a study that found that the ferry wasn’t staffing professional mariners or paying adequate wages for the position.

“The reality is, they did end up hiring professional mariners ... guys who had experience sailing outside of New York Harbor, guys who had been on ships before. But in doing so, they still never paid us what the actual mariners wages are. They refused to pay us a competitive wage compared to other people with our titles,” Rexha said.

MEBA had expressed cautious optimism that Adams would prioritize resolving the longstanding contract dispute, but little progress has been made since he took office in January 2022.

“I spoke to the mayor-elect himself, and I explained to him the situation, and I think his team is going to be extremely receptive to what’s going on,” Rexha said in December 2021.

“I know they care about the people of Staten Island, and in caring about the people of Staten Island, they want to get this resolved. That’s something that they made very clear to me,” he added.

A representative from the mayor’s administration said at the time that Adams would continue his conversations with the union in hopes of reaching a resolution on the longtime contract dispute.

“Ferry workers have played a vital role in keeping Staten Island moving. We look forward to engaging MEBA leadership on a conversation about how to move forward with a fair and equitable contract that recognizes their hard work and contributions,” the spokesperson told the Advance/SILive.com.

However, more than a year later, the issue remains unresolved, with the Adams’ administration having little to say about the matter.

The Mayor’s Office did not respond to the most recent requests for comment regarding efforts being made to improve Staten Island Ferry service and resolve the contract dispute with MEBA.

New York City Office of Labor Relations (OLR)

The New York City Office of Labor Relations represents the mayor in all labor relations between the City of New York and the labor unions that represent city employees, like the ones who operate the Staten Island Ferry.

Over the past decade, the Office of Labor Relations has reached contract agreements with dozens of unions, with the notable exception of the Marine Engineers Beneficial Association.

Most recently, the city reached a tentative agreement in February with District Council 37 (DC37), New York City’s largest public employee union, which will provide wage increases to more than 90,000 city employees.

Though able to reach an agreement with a union representing nearly 100,000 employees, contract negotiations with MEBA, which represents less than 150 city workers, remain at a standstill.

The Adam’s administration did not respond to a request for comment regarding the status of the ongoing negotiations and why the city has been able to reach agreements with dozens of other unions, but not MEBA.

New York City Office of Management and Budget (OMB)

The New York City Office of Management and Budget develops and executes NYC’s budget, determining the amount of funding that will be issued annually to each city agency.

Additional funding may need to be provided to the DOT through the city’s budget to accommodate the higher wages being sought by Staten Island Ferry workers.

In the current Fiscal Year 2023 budget, the DOT’s contract budget is $443,425,474, according to city budget documents.

Under Adams’ proposed Fiscal Year 2024 budget, which has yet to be finalized, the DOT’s contract budget would increase to $448,776,026, an increase of over $5 million, though it’s unclear if any of those funds have been earmarked for a higher-paying ferry worker contract.

The Adams administration did not respond to a request for comment regarding the need for additional funding in order to offer higher compensation to MEBA members.

New York City Council

The New York City Council introduces and votes on city legislation, negotiates the city’s budget with the mayor and monitors city agencies, like the DOT, to make sure they’re effectively serving New Yorkers.

In late March, Borough President Vito Fossella and the borough’s three City Council members -- Councilwoman Kamillah Hanks (D-North Shore), Councilman David Carr (R-Mid-Island) and Councilman Joseph Borelli (R-South Shore) -- penned a letter to Adams imploring him to resolve the overnight service issues at the ferry.

The elected officials emphasized that Staten Islanders already endure a more lengthy commute than other city residents and have fewer transportation options due to the borough’s lack of a connecting subway.

They also noted that many who travel to and from Manhattan via the free-to-ride Staten Island Ferry may not have the economic means to afford other forms of transportation.

“Staten Island commuters already bear the longest commute in all five boroughs, and the ferry is a vital and essential lifeline for thousands of them,” they wrote. “Some of our ferry commuters may tend to be individuals of limited means or who have family situations that make working irregular shifts a necessity. For these commuters, the option of taking an express bus or an Uber might not be economically feasible.”

The elected officials acknowledged the complex nature of the ongoing service reductions, but posited that the city would be working harder to resolve those issues if the disruptions were affecting any of the other boroughs.

“While we fully understand that there are complexities and multiple issues involved in restoring full ferry service, including budgetary concerns, maintenance, staffing, safety, and labor personnel shortages, we also understand that each of these issues falls within the ability of the City to resolve,” they wrote.

“If there were such frequent disruptions on a major subway line in Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, or the Bronx, there would undoubtedly be a citywide focus on resolving the matter,” they added.

Hanks told the Advance/SILive.com she has expressed interest in holding an oversight hearing that would require DOT officials to testify on the ongoing service reductions and what is being done to alleviate the staffing shortage, though it’s unclear if and when that may happen.

“As an essential form of transportation for all Staten Islanders, this is a matter we will work on to address expeditiously. Our office has conveyed our desire to have an open and transparent oversight hearing regarding this matter within the Committee on Transportation,” Hanks said.