Staten Island Ferry running with reduced service beginning Sunday night

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — The Staten Island ferry will run on an hourly schedule beginning at 11 p.m. Sunday night, until 5 a.m. Monday morning, officials said.

Departures will occur on the hour out of the St. George terminal and on the half-hour out of Whitehall Terminal, said the New York City Department of Transportation.

Boats typically run every half-hour during this time period, but service reductions have become a frustrating way of life for Staten Islanders in recent years.

While the reductions are typically in off-peak hours, riders have been left fuming and stranded in Manhattan’s Whitehall Terminal when boats ran hourly during the evening rush hour on multiple days.

The union that represents the workers on the Staten Island Ferry said the reductions are due to the lack of ability to fill vacant positions because of low wages that have not been increased in over a decade. Those reductions have resulted in thousands of canceled trips.

Union officials previously agreed to the city’s offer to appoint a mediator to facilitate the ongoing contract negotiations with the city. The latest snag in the longstanding contract negotiations is overtime pay, the Advance/SILive.com reported.