NEW YORK and HONG KONG — The driver of the S62 bus let me on even though there was no value left on my borrowed Metrocard.
“Just don’t let it happen again,” he said, waving me back.
Twenty minutes later, after a bumpy ride down Victory Boulevard, a narrow commercial street that winds its way across the northern half of Staten Island, New York’s fifth and forgotten borough, we arrive at the best way to get to Manhattan: the Staten Island Ferry. I say it’s the best because, unlike the US$5 express bus, which takes you across the Verrazano-Narrow Bridge and up the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, the Staten Island Ferry is free and it runs around the clock. It’s also relaxing and picturesque: you can stand on the outside deck, leaning against the railing as the bells on the harbour’s buoys clang and the Statue of Liberty passes by in the distance.
The City of New York eliminated the ferry’s 50-cent fare in 1997. More recently, it has invested millions of dollars in building two pleasant, airy new terminals. These improvements have attracted new riders and made the ferry one of the most democratic forms of transportation in New York: few other kinds of transport—perhaps not even the subway—bring together so many different people into a single space.
After a few days of going to and from Manhattan by ferry, I left New York for Hong Kong, where I re-encountered my favourite ferry service in the world: the Star Ferry, whose weatherworn green boats have crossed Victoria Harbour for more than a century. It’s not a stretch to say that the ferry’s ten-minute journey across the harbour is one of the more awe-inspiring experiences in the world, especially at night, when the choppy water seems to glow in the ambient light of Hong Kong’s skyline.
In contrast to the Staten Island Ferry, which remains the only direct link between Staten Island and Manhattan, the Star Ferry has been made redundant by three cross-harbour tunnels and two subway lines. Still, even if it holds practical value only to the thrifty—its lower-deck fare is just HK$1.70 (about 21 Canadian cents), compared to HK$7.90 in the subway—its history has ensured its role as Hong Kong’s most iconic form of transportation.
Back in 1966, when the Star Ferry was still the most important link between Hong Kong and Kowloon, a proposal to double the fare ignited protests against the colonial British government, which had approved the hike. Social activist and city councillor Elsie Elliott attracted the support of 20,000 people with a petition against the fare increase; one of them was a young man named So Sau Chung, who began a hunger strike at the Tsim Sha Tsui ferry terminal in Kowloon. After less than a day, he was arrested for obsctructing a public way; the next day, he was tried and sentenced to two months in jail. When news of his conviction emerged, violence broke out and rioters ransacked the streets of Kowloon for two days.
More than just a backlash against a fare hike, the Star Ferry riots were a symptom of growing dissatisfaction with the colonial regime’s indifference towards the poverty, crime and corruption that was rampant in late-sixties Hong Kong. Today, the Star Ferry’s symbolic weight remains intact. In 2006, when the Hong Kong government destroyed the 1960s-era Star Ferry terminal in Central, much beloved by Hong Kongers, it provoked massive protests and a new awareness of heritage and local culture in the territory.
The old Central terminal was replaced by a new one built on reclaimed land 300 metres further into the harbour. Not only is it appallingly ugly, a cheap, faux-historic rebuke to the clean modernism of the old terminal, it is far less convenient to Central’s office towers, markets and shopping malls. Getting there requires a five-minute walk down a long footbridge. Not surprisingly, the Star Ferry’s ridership has dropped significantly, and to cope with the loss in revenue the company that operates it will soon raise fares by 23 percent.
Halfway around the world, New Yorkers are settling into their new Staten Island Ferry terminals, more convenient and more accommodating than ever, and the ferry’s old fare recedes into memory.
Crossing the harbour on the Staten Island Ferry
Waiting for the Central-bound ferry at Tsim Sha Tsui
Aboard the Star Ferry to Central
3 comments
The Star Ferry is awesome, but seems like an anachronism in the “bright lights, big city” atmosphere of Hong Kong. Even the ferry workers’ uniforms are a throwback to British Edwardian era, and look like a costumes from a Gilbert & Sullivan operetta.
But the modern has crept in — you pay your ferry fare using the swipe-and-go debit card (aka Octopus card) that is integrated with the subway/bus/tram system.
Don’t forget the best part about the Staten Island Ferry: they sell very reasonably priced beer round the clock. I’m not sure whether this funds the free route, but if so, this is a model I’d love to see explored by transit authorities more often!
I’m rather ashamed to say that I lived in Staten Island for 4 months. Other fond memories of that ferry include the sniffer dogs that guard the brand new terminals (for bombs, not drugs, they’ll assure you) and the dregs of society that you’ll encounter on the middle-of-the-night crossings.
I must have missed the cheap beer, probably because I was turned off by the anemic-looking sandwiches in the snack bar.