Rent a Bus to Empire Outlets: Staten Island Shopping Group Transportation Guide

Empire Outlets sits at the base of the St. George Ferry Terminal — New York City's only outlet shopping complex, four levels of retail and waterfront dining pressed right up against the harbor, with the Lower Manhattan skyline filling in the backdrop. Getting there solo is easy. Getting a shopping group of 20, 30, or 50 people there and back without a parking fight, a bridge toll per car, and someone's cousin getting separated at the St. George ramp?

That's a different problem entirely.

This guide is built for the person running the trip: the corporate outing coordinator, the church group organizer, the birthday crew planner who just promised everyone a day of deals and a round of drinks at the rooftop beer garden. We'll tell you exactly how a bus gets to Empire Outlets, where it drops your group, what the parking situation actually looks like for a vehicle that isn't a personal sedan, and how the per-head math compares to driving in separately with multiple cars. At Party Bus Rental Staten Island, the St. George waterfront is our home territory — group transportation moves through this corridor regularly, and what follows is what we tell our own clients before they book.

What Is Empire Outlets — and Why Groups Go There

Empire Outlets opened in 2019 as New York City's first and only outlet mall — a distinction that still matters, because there is no other outlet-style complex inside the five boroughs. The 350,000-square-foot complex rises four levels along the waterfront in St. George, directly beside the ferry terminal that handles millions of commuters and visitors every year. The location is deliberate: you step off the Staten Island Ferry and Empire Outlets is in front of you, the Manhattan skyline directly behind you across the harbor.

For a shopping group, that proximity is both the attraction and the logistical wrinkle. A solo visitor or a couple can hop the free ferry from Whitehall Terminal in Lower Manhattan, walk 90 seconds, and start browsing. A group of 35 people trying to do the same thing simultaneously — coordinating ferry timing, re-gathering after security, splitting across multiple crossings if the 30-minute weekend schedule doesn't accommodate everyone at once — turns a casual day trip into a coordination project.

The alternative is driving, which trades ferry timing for the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge toll and the Richmond Terrace parking situation. Neither option is wrong for individuals. For a group, a single bus solves both.

The retail lineup at Empire Outlets runs toward clothing and footwear at factory-outlet prices: Nike Factory Store, Gap Factory Store, Old Navy Outlet, Banana Republic Factory, H&M, Levi's Outlet, Nordstrom Rack, Guess Factory, and roughly 90 stores total across the four levels. Dining is anchored by Clinton Hall's rooftop beer garden on the fourth floor (20 draft beers rotating, waterfront views of New York Harbor), Shake Shack, Wasabi Hibachi Steakhouse and Nori Sushi Shop, Starbucks, and a cluster of grab-and-go options. Groups that come for the shopping stay for the food — and the rooftop is one of the better outdoor spots in the entire borough, which is not a sentence you hear often enough.

How a Charter Bus Gets to Empire Outlets

Here is the part most group trip guides skip entirely, so let's work through it. Empire Outlets sits on Richmond Terrace, a busy surface road that runs along Staten Island's North Shore waterfront. The St. George Ferry Terminal complex occupies the eastern end of that corridor, and the Outlets are built immediately adjacent — their garage address is 55B Richmond Terrace, Staten Island, NY 10301.

For a charter bus or minibus approaching from the west — coming off the Staten Island Expressway (I-278) and heading toward St. George — Richmond Terrace is the primary surface approach. Bus-sized vehicles can access the Richmond Terrace corridor without the overhead clearance constraints you'd face trying to squeeze through parking structures built for personal vehicles. The passenger drop-off point for a group shopping trip is the Richmond Terrace frontage directly in front of the complex, where the curb serves both passenger vehicles and organized group arrivals.

The bus pulls to the curb, the group disembarks, and every shopper walks directly into the outdoor retail levels from street level — no stairs, no elevator waits, no crossing a surface lot.

For bus waiting, the St. George area has the 1 Bay Street municipal parking lot (222 spaces, metered, 24 hours at the Richmond Terrace / Bay Street corner) and the larger 54 Central Avenue municipal facility (721 spaces, Monday through Friday 6 AM to 10 PM) operated by NYC DOT. Neither is designed as a dedicated charter bus waiting area, but the Bay Street lot is the most practical nearby option for a vehicle that needs to wait while shoppers browse. The Outlets' own underground garage at 55B Richmond Terrace accommodates personal vehicles at rates from around $12.50/day — but standard parking garage height restrictions apply, and a full-size charter bus won't clear those lanes.

The waiting plan for your bus needs to be confirmed when you book, and our team coordinates this as part of the trip logistics so there's no guessing at the curb.

The Drive to St. George: Routes, Bridges & What to Know

Staten Island is connected to the rest of the metro area by bridge, and for a bus group coming from Brooklyn, Manhattan, or New Jersey, the bridge choice and the approach to St. George matter more than most guides let on.

From Brooklyn and Manhattan

The standard approach from Brooklyn is the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge (I-278 westbound into Staten Island), then the Staten Island Expressway west toward St. George — except you don't actually go west; St. George is on the north end of the island, so you transition from I-278 onto Bay Street or Richmond Terrace via the local exits. The Verrazzano toll for a commercial bus varies by axle count and E-ZPass status — per current MTA rates, multi-axle commercial vehicles pay well above the $7.46 passenger car E-ZPass rate, with bus-class vehicles in the $11–$60 range depending on configuration. Cash is no longer accepted on the Verrazzano; all tolling is electronic (E-ZPass or Toll by Mail).

That's one more reason a single bus is cleaner than a caravan of ten personal cars, each paying the crossing separately.

From Manhattan proper, the free Staten Island Ferry is the logical move for individual riders — but a bus loaded with 40 people cannot board the ferry. The bus routes via the Verrazzano from Brooklyn or via the Goethals Bridge (I-278 from New Jersey, then across Staten Island) depending on where the group originates. If your pickup points span both Brooklyn addresses and Manhattan hotels, we build a multi-stop route that consolidates the group before the bridge crossing.

From New Jersey

Groups originating in Bayonne, Jersey City, or Elizabeth approach via the Goethals Bridge or the Bayonne Bridge (Route 440), both of which deposit you onto the Staten Island Expressway and require a ride across the island to reach St. George on the North Shore. The Goethals toll for commercial vehicles is managed by the Port Authority and also varies by class — confirm current rates when you book. Travel time from the Bayonne Bridge to Richmond Terrace, off-peak, runs roughly 20–30 minutes.

During the Staten Island Expressway's notorious rush-hour congestion — particularly westbound in the evenings — that number climbs. Saturday morning is the sweet spot for a shopping group trip: weekend traffic on the SIE is lighter than weekday commute hours, and the Outlets open at 10 AM with manageable crowds before noon.

Approximate Drive Times to Empire Outlets

Times are estimates in normal conditions. Weekend morning trips typically run on the low end; Friday afternoon arrivals from New Jersey on the high end. We recommend checking the NYC DOT Staten Island Ferry schedule if any portion of your group is arriving by ferry separately from the bus — weekend service runs every 30 minutes, so missed timing has real consequences for a large party trying to regroup.

Parking, the Bridge Toll & the Per-Car Math

This is where the group-bus argument becomes concrete rather than abstract. Let's run the actual numbers for a shopping group of 40 people driving in 10 separate cars from Brooklyn.

• Verrazzano Bridge toll: $7.46 per car each way with E-ZPass, or $12.03 by Toll by Mail. Round-trip at E-ZPass rates: $14.92 per car. For 10 cars: $149.20 in bridge tolls alone.
• Empire Outlets garage: The underground garage at 55B Richmond Terrace runs from roughly $12.50/day on the low end when pre-booked. For 10 cars arriving on a Saturday: approximately $125 in parking.
• Total before anyone reaches a store: ~$274 across 10 cars — plus fuel, plus the time spent coordinating who parks where while the first shoppers have already been inside for 20 minutes.

A single Staten Island party bus or charter bus rental for the same 40-person group eliminates the parking cost and keeps everyone together from the first pickup to the last drop-off — all for one flat, pre-agreed rate. Once you split that rate across 40 people, the per-head cost is typically competitive with what each individual car was already going to spend on tolls and parking before anyone touched a steering wheel. And nobody draws the short straw as the designated driver who can't sample the Clinton Hall rooftop rotation.

Which Vehicle Fits Your Shopping Group?

Not every shopping trip is the same size, and we offer a range of vehicles so you're not paying for 56 seats when 18 people are coming. Here's how the fleet lines up for an Empire Outlets run.

One practical note on luggage for a shopping trip: outlet purchases add up fast, and a group that enters with light bags often exits carrying significantly more. A full-size charter bus with undercarriage bays handles that reality cleanly — nobody is wrestling a Nike duffle and a Nordstrom Rack bag into an overhead bin designed for a laptop case. For groups where the ride itself is part of the occasion (a bachelorette shopping day, a milestone birthday) the 15- to 50-passenger party bus brings a built-in sound system, color-changing LED lighting, and a bar setup to start the celebration before you even cross the bridge.

ADA-accessible vehicles are available with advance notice — just mention your needs when you request a quote.

Shopping, Dining & What to Know Before You Go

Empire Outlets is an outdoor complex, which means the four retail levels are open to the harbor air and the climate follows whatever New York is doing that day. A spring Saturday morning feels genuinely pleasant; a July afternoon is hot; a March weekday can be cold and breezy off the water. Groups should plan for the weather, because unlike an enclosed mall, there's no temperature-controlled corridor to retreat to between stores.

The retail spread at Empire Outlets leans toward apparel and footwear with a consistent factory-outlet pricing model across its roughly 90 stores. Key anchors include Nike Factory Store, Nordstrom Rack, H&M, Gap Factory Store, Old Navy Outlet, Banana Republic Factory, Levi's Outlet, and Guess Factory — the kind of lineup that suits a group where different members have different brand preferences and budgets. The outlet model means prices are already discounted from retail, and additional in-store promotions stack on top.

Downloading the Empire Outlets app before arrival surfaces coupon codes that some stores accept for additional savings on top of outlet pricing — worth the two-minute download on the bus ride over.

For dining, the fourth-floor Clinton Hall rooftop beer garden is the destination for groups — 20 rotating draft beers, views of New York Harbor and Lower Manhattan, and outdoor seating that fills up on weekend afternoons. Plan to arrive before 1 PM if your group wants a unified rooftop table on a Saturday; it books up. Shake Shack on the lower level handles fast food at the expected quality level.

Wasabi Hibachi Steakhouse and Nori Sushi Shop offer a sit-down dining option. Starbucks, Häagen-Daz, Wetzel's Pretzels, and Bake Culture cover the quick-grab needs. The spread is solid for a group that will naturally spread out and regroup for meals rather than sitting down together at a single restaurant.

Check the official Empire Outlets store directory before your visit to confirm which stores are currently open — retail tenancy shifts, and verifying the specific brands your group is most interested in means no one boards the bus expecting a store that's since closed or relocated.

Trip Types That Work Well at Empire Outlets

A few of the group configurations we handle most often for Empire Outlets runs:

• Corporate employee appreciation outings. A Saturday shopping day at a New York City outlet mall is a tangible perk that groups actually use — and coordinating a 40-person corporate group through a self-organized ferry-and-public-transit arrival is the kind of logistics that makes HR departments age visibly. One charter bus, one departure from the office or hotel, one coordinated arrival time.
• Birthday and bachelorette shopping days. A Staten Island party bus rental to Empire Outlets solves the "we want to shop and then have drinks with a view" problem in a single booking. The party bus brings the celebration for the ride; Clinton Hall's rooftop handles the drinks once you arrive.
• Church and community group outings. Consistent group sizes in the 20–40 range, organized by a single coordinator, with pickups spread across multiple neighborhood stops — exactly the structure where a minibus or charter bus earns its keep versus trying to carpool.
• School and youth group shopping trips. A supervised shopping outing to a walkable, contained outdoor outlet complex is a reasonable school event alternative to longer field trips — and a bus keeps the group together from school pickup to school return, with no parent carpool logistics to manage.
• Family reunion day trips. Multi-generational groups where some members are going to browse Nike for two hours while others sit at Shake Shack for 45 minutes — the bus handles the logistics so the family reunion coordinator isn't also running a carpool spreadsheet.

The Ferry Option for Members Who Aren't on the Bus

Here is something worth knowing if your group has members joining from Manhattan who aren't at your main pickup location: the Staten Island Ferry runs free, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, from Whitehall Terminal at the southern tip of Manhattan to St. George Terminal — which is, again, directly adjacent to Empire Outlets. The ferry takes approximately 25 minutes and runs every 15–20 minutes during weekday rush hours and every 30 minutes on weekends per the official NYC DOT schedule.

For a group where most members are riding the bus from Staten Island or Brooklyn and a handful are joining from Manhattan, the ferry works well as the Manhattan members' independent arrival method. The practical coordination note: tell your Manhattan-based participants to be at Whitehall Terminal at least 10 minutes before the ferry they intend to catch, because missing the 30-minute weekend schedule means waiting another half hour, and the group won't be holding tables in Clinton Hall indefinitely.

The bus and the ferry arrivals converge at the same spot — St. George Terminal — making it simple to designate a meeting point inside Empire Outlets (the Shake Shack on the lower level works well as a central reference point) for everyone to regroup before splitting into shopping pairs or subgroups.

What Does a Bus to Empire Outlets Cost?

Charter bus pricing is quote-based, not a posted sticker. A few factors shape what you'll pay:

• Vehicle size: a 14-passenger Sprinter limo runs at a different rate than a 40-seat minibus or a 56-passenger charter bus.
• Total hours: Empire Outlets groups typically want 4–6 hours on-site, so the booking covers pickup, transit, time at the outlets, and the return. The bus is reserved for that full window.
• Origin and mileage: a pickup in Bayonne is a shorter run than one in Jersey City or a multi-stop pickup loop through Brooklyn.
• Date: weekend and holiday rates run higher than weekday bookings.

For real ranges to anchor your planning: 14-passenger Sprinter limos run $170–$344/hour; 15–35 passenger minibuses run $150–$300/hour; 15–50 passenger party buses run $200–$490/hour depending on size; and 40–56 passenger charter buses run $150–$300/hour. A typical 5-hour Saturday shopping trip for a group of 30 on a minibus often lands between $750 and $1,500 all-inclusive — which is $25–$50 per person before the group has even priced out what they'd have spent individually on bridge tolls and parking. Call 929-384-1505 with your headcount, date, and pickup area for a specific number.

Booking and Timing: When to Reserve

Empire Outlets is most popular from late spring through early fall, when the waterfront setting and outdoor layout are at their best. The corridor between Memorial Day and Labor Day sees high weekend demand across all Staten Island transportation, and the back-to-school shopping window in August is one of the single busiest periods for outlet group trips — factory prices on clothing and footwear draw groups that know to plan around back-to-school timing rather than waiting for the regular retail season.

The holiday shopping window from late October through December adds another demand spike. The waterfront light displays around Empire Outlets during the holidays make the venue a natural group outing destination, and transportation across the borough books up earlier than most organizers expect. If your trip falls in August or between Thanksgiving and New Year's, locking in the bus 4–6 weeks ahead rather than 1–2 is the difference between getting your preferred vehicle size and taking whatever's left.

For corporate outings where the date is tied to a company calendar, give yourself 6–8 weeks of lead time. Corporate outings tend to generate multi-vehicle requests when headcounts finalize late, and availability for large vehicles on popular weekend dates is not unlimited. The sooner your headcount is confirmed, the better your options and your rate.

Adding Stops: What Groups Combine With an Empire Outlets Trip

Empire Outlets sits in St. George, and St. George is a neighborhood, not just a transit hub. Groups frequently build a multi-stop itinerary around the outlet trip. A few combinations that make logistical sense:

• St. George Theatre (35 Hyatt St, Staten Island, NY 10301) — a beautifully restored 1929 venue two blocks from the outlets. Concert nights there are a natural pairing with an afternoon shopping trip — shop, eat at Clinton Hall, walk to the show. Your bus handles both legs.
• Staten Island Yankees / FerryHawks games at Staten Island University Hospital Park, about two miles from Empire Outlets along Richmond Terrace. A Saturday that starts with outlet shopping and ends with a minor-league baseball game is a full-day group itinerary on one bus.
• Snug Harbor Cultural Center & Botanical Garden (1000 Richmond Terrace, Staten Island, NY 10301) — eight miles west of Empire Outlets along the same Richmond Terrace corridor. Wedding groups that need shopping-day transportation often pair Snug Harbor with an Empire Outlets afternoon.

Multi-stop itineraries are handled the same way as single-destination trips — your bus is reserved for a block of hours, and the stops within that window are yours to design. Tell us the sequence when you book and we confirm the routing and timing.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where does a charter bus drop off at Empire Outlets?

Curbside on Richmond Terrace directly in front of the complex at 55 Richmond Terrace, Staten Island, NY 10301. From the curb your group walks straight into the outdoor retail levels — no crossing a parking structure or waiting for a shuttle. The underground parking garage at 55B Richmond Terrace is designed for personal vehicles; charter buses do not enter the garage.

Where does the bus wait while we shop?

The St. George area has NYC DOT municipal parking at 1 Bay Street (Richmond Terrace, 222 metered spaces, 24 hours) and the larger 54 Central Avenue lot (721 spaces, Monday–Friday 6 AM–10 PM). We confirm your bus's waiting plan before your trip date so the logistics are settled in advance. For longer visits where the bus isn't needed on standby, we coordinate a return pickup time and the bus repositions accordingly.

How much does it cost to rent a bus to Empire Outlets from Brooklyn?

A 3–4 hour round-trip from Brooklyn for a group of 20 on a minibus typically runs $600–$1,200 all-inclusive. For a 40-person group on a full charter bus over 5–6 hours, expect $900–$1,800. Split across the group, the per-person cost regularly lands at or below what individual Verrazzano toll round trips and parking would have cost.

Call 929-384-1505 with your exact headcount and date for a specific quote.

Can the bus make multiple pickup stops before arriving at Empire Outlets?

Yes. Multi-stop pickup routes are standard — a church group pulling from three different neighborhoods, a corporate outing picking up from two hotels, a family reunion consolidating members from Brooklyn and Bay Ridge. Tell us your pickup locations when you book and we build the most efficient routing before your trip date.

What time should we plan to arrive at Empire Outlets?

Empire Outlets opens at 10 AM Monday through Saturday and 11 AM on Sundays. A 10 AM arrival on a Saturday means walking into stores before the full weekend crowd builds — the most popular stores (Nike, Nordstrom Rack) get noticeably busier after noon. If your group wants to have a meal at Clinton Hall's rooftop after shopping, plan for lunch around 12:30–1 PM before the afternoon rush fills the outdoor seating.

Check the official Empire Outlets plan your visit page for any holiday hour variations before your trip.

Is the free Staten Island Ferry an option for our group instead of a bus?

For individuals, absolutely — the ferry is free, scenic, and deposits you steps from the outlets. For a group of 20–50 people, it's genuinely complicated. Ferry capacity isn't the issue; coordinating 40 people across 30-minute weekend departures from Whitehall Terminal, ensuring everyone arrives at the right terminal, navigating the boarding process, and then re-consolidating at St. George is the issue.

A private Staten Island bus rental eliminates all of that for one flat rate and gets everyone there simultaneously. The ferry makes great sense for individuals joining from Manhattan; it's not the right tool for a coordinated group trip from Staten Island or Brooklyn.

How far in advance should I book for a weekend shopping trip?

For standard weekend dates from spring through fall, 2–4 weeks ahead usually secures the vehicle you want. For the August back-to-school window, holiday weekends, and the period from Thanksgiving through New Year's, book 4–6 weeks ahead. Corporate outings with flexible dates can often be locked in 6–8 weeks out to guarantee the right vehicle size as your headcount finalizes.

Do you offer ADA-accessible buses for shopping trips?

Yes — accessible vehicles are available with advance notice. Let us know your group's specific needs when you request a quote and we match you with the right vehicle. Empire Outlets itself is ADA accessible across all four levels, so once your group arrives, navigating the complex is straightforward.

Book Your Bus to Empire Outlets Today

The view from Clinton Hall's rooftop on a clear Saturday afternoon — Manhattan skyline, the harbor, the Statue of Liberty in the background — is genuinely one of the better places a group can end a shopping day in New York. Getting there together is the part we handle. Whether it's a 14-passenger Sprinter limo for a birthday shopping day, a 35-passenger minibus for a church group outing, or a full 56-passenger charter bus for a corporate employee appreciation trip, Party Bus Rental Staten Island has the right vehicle for your headcount at a price you'll see before you book.

Give us a call at 929-384-1505 any time for an all-inclusive quote — or use our online tool for pricing in under 30 seconds.