Mayor to End 50-Cent Fare On S.I. Ferry

Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani said yesterday that he would eliminate the 50-cent fare on the Staten Island Ferry starting July 4, saying people who live outside Manhattan should not have to pay extra to travel.

The decision to allow ferry users to ride free coincides with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's ending of two-fare zones, under which people transferring from buses to subways and vice versa must pay two fares. The ferry's $3 car fare will remain unchanged.

The timing of Mr. Giuliani's move raised eyebrows, as the decision is expected to solidify his standing among voters on Staten Island, where strong support helped propel him to victory in 1993.

But Mr. Giuliani said the change -- along with the move to end two-fare zones -- reflected his feelings that residents of the boroughs outside Manhattan should not be penalized.

''The people of Queens, the Bronx, Brooklyn and Staten Island are all helped by this,'' Mr. Giuliani said yesterday morning after reading with fourth graders at Public School 60 in Woodhaven, Queens, ''and it shows a major turnaround in the way our city used to be governed. It used to be governed by and large most often for the benefit of Manhattan. And I've turned that around.''

The Staten Island Ferry carries about 60,000 passengers daily, officials said, and riders are charged only on the Manhattan-bound ride.

The ferry fare covers about $4 million of the $25 million operating costs for the city's ferries.

But Deputy Mayor Randy M. Mastro said the plan, first reported Sunday in The Staten Island Advance, would eliminate about $800,000 in capital expenses for ferry turnstile maintenance and fare collectors. He said the city would have a one-time payment of $1.2 million to upgrade the turnstiles to accommodate the Metrocard.

''From an economic standpoint, what made sense was to have a free ferry and not have the added costs of turnstile maintenance and fare collections,'' Mr. Mastro said.

But Fernando Ferrer, the Bronx Borough President, who is running for mayor, suggested the move was politically timed. ''I think it's great,'' Mr. Ferrer said, ''but it should come as no surprise that a re-election year for a Mayor is like a visit to Lourdes. Instead of a vision of religious fervor, Giuliani got a vision of a grab bag of goodies for places he needs to get re-elected.''

Lisa Daglian, a spokeswoman for Ruth W. Messinger, the Manhattan Borough President who is running for mayor, said Ms. Messinger backed the move because it would encourage use of public transportation.