What is the fastest way to get from Upper East Side to Staten Island?
 

What is the easiest and fastest way to get from the Upper East Side (I will be staying at 81st street between 2nd and 3rd) to Staten Island? Thanks!

Where are you trying to get to on Staten Island. The usual way from Manhattan is just to hop on the free ferry. For the easiest way to get there via subway or bus go to hopstop.com and input your starting address and "South ferry" as the destination. (Subway will be much faster than bus.)

but if you want to actually visit Staten Island - as in tour around - you might need a car (it's fairly suburban) and then would need to find the best way to the Verazzano bridge - based on traffic, construction etc. (hopstop can do this too).

Walk over to Lexington Avenue and then up to 86th Street. There take a downtown 4 or 5 subway train (lower level in the station) to Bowling Green. At Bowling Green use the staircase at the front of the platform and exit to the street. Once on the street continue in the same direction along Battery Park to the Staten Island Ferry Terminal. Enter the terminal and take the escalator up and then enter the waiting room for the next ferry.

The subway is $2.50 if you buy a single ride ticket (from a MetroCard Vending machine in the station) or $2.25 if you buy a MetroCard for $4.50 or more from the machine or the booth.
The ferry is free.

What did you plan to do once you got to Staten Island?

We really need to know where you want to go. There are some express bus services from Manhattan to Staten Island that might offer you a quicker trip to the particular area of Staten Island.

Hey everyone! Thank you so much for your replies. It actually doesn't matter where the bus takes me to Staten Island because once I get there, my cousin will pick me up. I believe she lives in Richmondtown near Snake Hill??? However, I don't neccessarily have to get a bus close to that because she will pick me up whereever.

I'd take the subway (4/5 ... NOT 6) to the ferry. Total time will be about an hour that way, but it requires you to walk the equivalent of 3 or 4 blocks out of doors. You can switch to the R train at Union Square and end up across the street from the ferry, but you would lose some time since the R is a local train and the 4/5 an express.

I prefer "the boat", but honestly, the train to the ferry to S.I. takes a long time. My father and his wife take the express bus from Hylan Blvd in New Dorp when they visit my wife and me. They take a newspaper and enjoy the ride. They swear it takes a total of 40 minutes.

What express bus would I take from the Upper East Side? (82nd street between 2nd and 3rd avenue)

I suspect the X2 from East 57th Street near Third Avenu would be reasonable. It ends at New Dorp, which is not too far from Richmondtown.

map:
http://www.mta.info/nyct/maps/bussi.pdf

Schedule:
http://mta.info/nyct/bus/schedule/xpress/x001cur.pdf

The train/ferry is a better option than the express bus and it will be faster. There are only 7 or 8 stops on the train to Bowling Green. And the ferry ride is scenic.