I need to get to Staten Island from the Freehold, NJ area. Any dopers from this part of the world know of a bus or public transportation that can get me there? I’ve tried the NJ Transit but they don’t seem to have a bus to get me there. Is it just not possible to get to Staten Island from NJ if you don’t own a car?
Wow, that’s a good one. Someone else will probably be along to confirm or deny this, but it sounds like you’re going to have to get into lower Manhattan by bus, and then take the Staten Island Ferry.
Although, good luck getting around Staten Island without a car. It’s like a whole other country… not pedestrian-friendly like NYC.
Thanks…I’m meeting my wife in SI, and she has a car, but she has to be there early in the day and I’m working in Jersey. I’m trying to find a way for her to drop me at work and go on to SI, and if I can get onto the island somehow and meet up with her ,I’ll be fine from there. I haven’t got forever and a day to make the trip though, so I don’t think I’ll be going into Staten Island by way of Manhattan. It just seems so hard to believe that there aren’t more people with this problem, considering how many people live in Staten Island. I assumed there would be some public transportation way of getting in, but I’m coming up with nothing.
Remember, Staten Island is an Island. This means that people get to the mainland by way of ferries to Manhatten. Not being a resident of the area, I won’t swear that there are not other ways to get there, but I think the most common way of getting to Staten Island is by way of the Staten Island Ferry, a free service which runs every half hour or so–and the primary reason they stop letting people get on the boats is so that the boats can stay on time, not because they run out of space for passengers. (Or at least that is my impression). The Staten Island Ferry is pretty easily accessible from bus or subway if you are in Manhatten.
Here is some information about the Staten Island Ferry provided by NYC’s Department of Transportation.
Or there’s this which indicates that the Staten Island Ferry is the only non-vehicular means of transportaion between Staten Island and Manhatten. The ferry ride is 25 minutes long and 5 miles long.
Or here’s a site run for the benefit of people living on Staten Island you could check out. Maybe you’ll find some form of transportation off the Island other than the Staten Island Ferry or a private ferry. But I wouldn’t hold my breath. Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) features prominently- and mention is made of both Metro North and the Long Island Railroad, but I’m not seeing any signs of transportation from New Jersey.
And just because I can’t leave well enough alone, here’s information about a Tunnel from Staten Island to Brooklyn- or rather the “real” story of why there is no such thing. Take with an appropriately sized grain of salt.
I’ll stop now. All of the above were located using the magic words “Staten Island Transportation” in Google. This is not meant as nagging that you should have used Google, rather it is meant as a jumping off point to help you find more websites which recommend Manhatten as the connection to Staten Island.
i’ve gone to s.i. from philly without a car. very easy. you get to nyc by bus or train. then subway from bus station or train station to the ferry. then ferry to the island.
the ferry is a nice ride. it would be very easy for you to meet up at the ferry station.
give it appr. 2 hours to get from nj to si.
Well, to be fair, there are 4 bridges that connect Staten Island to NJ and Brooklyn. The Bayonne, the Goethals, and the Outerbridge Crossing all connect to Jersey and the Verrazano Narrows connects to Brooklyn. I find it extremely difficult to believe that there are no buses that run over any of the NJ / NY bridges.
I’ll admit it- I was too lazy to look for a map which might actually depict bridges. After looking (by means of Mapquest) at a map of Staten Island, I’m a trifle embarassed. Staten Island is closer to NJ than I thought it was. (I forgot that the map of Manhatten with which I am most familiar does not have north pointing straight up, it is slightly diagonal).
Still, many, many people use the Staten Island Ferry and my quick look failed to suggest other (public transportation) means of getting there.
There used to be no bus service to Staten Island From Jersey City, but now there is, and that would be the more time saving option for you.
Take a train down to Newark Penn Station, then the path to the Grove St station in Jersey City. From there you can take the Staten Island Express Bus (Hobken, Jersey City, Staten Island) to Staten Island.
Double check the schedule I don’t think the buses run very late.
Playing around with the trip planner on the NJTransit web site, I’m getting discouraged. According to it, the quickest route from Freehold Center to the Hoboken PATH station (from which you can can the 6:15 bus to Staten Island) will start at 4:05 pm at Freehold Center and end at the PATH station after one hour and 54 minutes, one transfer, and $13.05. Then you still have to pay for the Staten Island express bus, which makes its first stop in Staten Island at around 6:45, at “Forest Ave & Trantor Pl”. Sounds nightmarish.
More to the point, this route planner puts you at the Port Authority Bus Terminal @ 5:17p, from which it would make much more sense to wander over to the subway station at Times Square, and take the downtown 2 to Chambers St and then transfer to the 1 to South Ferry, where you can get the ferry to Staten Island. This would put you in Staten way before 6:45, and also at an easily-found landmark instead of “Forest Ave & Trantor Pl”. Bus fare for this trip would be $10.75, subway fare $2.00, and the ferry is free.
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Kinthalis, I may be mistaken cause I don’t know NJ that well, but isn’t Newark north of Freehold, and out of the way if you’re heading to Staten from there? Also, is there a train that runs through Freehold at all? I think there’s only bus service there.
I managed to get the someone to drive me into SI after all, but I appreciate the info. I guess I should have phrased my question better: I was looking for a way to get into Staten Island that didn’t include going through Manhattan, because that always takes all kinds of extra time. Next time I’m in a bind like this though I’ll check out the Path option from Jersey City. It just seemed odd to me, with so many people living in Staten Island and so many bridges connecting it to Jersey, that one would have to take the long way through Manhattan. We take the Ferry into Manhattan from Staten Island all the time and it’s very convenient, but going through Manhattan when I don’t need to is aggravating and time consuming.
It’s not odd at all. Mass transit doesn’t usually connect suburbs to each other; buses and commuter trains are designed larely to get people from outlying areas to major hubs, like New York City and Newark and Hoboken, in these cases. There may be a ton of people living in Staten Island, but it counts as a commuter suburb, and the demand for direct bus service from various towns in central Jersey is small. If there was a bridge or tunnel between SI and Manhattan, I’m sure there would be a bus line that would go that way from Jersey, but northern SI is kind of a motor-vehicle dead-end.
I live in NYC and work near the end of a commuter train line in the 'burbs, but I can’t take the train to work because they only have trains in to the city in the mornings and out to the 'burbs in the afternoon. (I assume they’re not running an empty train out in the morning and in in the afternoon and stubbornly refusing to sell tickets, but it’s New Jersey Transit so you never know.)
Just so you’re not surprised later on, there’s no Path option to get to Staten Island from New Jersey. The Path trains only go to Jersey City, Hoboken, and Manhattan (as high as 33rd St.). You might have been talking about the New Jersey Transit System, but that has nothing to do with the Path train.
I moved from Staten Island to New Jersey a few years ago.
After several hours of investigation I can tell you there is no fast way to get from Staten Island to NJ without a car.
Nearly all local buses are either express buses that go to Manhattan, buses that go to the ferry terminal or inter-island buses that will take you from one point in Staten Island to another. The only train there goes from the ferry terminal to Tottenville. A handful of express buses will go through NJ but only on their way to Manhattan.
Most NJ public transportation options are also oriented towards Manhattan. Many buses stop at the Port Authority Bus Terminal. Many trains stop at Penn Station.
I have never been particularly surprised at this fact because there are two states involved here and not a huge demand for services. Staten Island has only roughly 400,000 people. I doubt the percentage of commuters to any place in NJ is very high.
Bambi is correct in asserting that Newark is really nowhere near Freehold. Newark is located in Essex county above the top of Staten Island while Freehold is located in Middlesex county below the bottom of Staten Island.