Security checks and bag checks

(I don't know which forum this topic is best suited to so mods please feel free to move it to the appropriate place. )

One or two questions: In New York, before getting on to the Ellis/Liberty Island Ferry you must walk through a metal detector and your bags are x-rayed.

1. Why is a security check more important to get on this 20 minute ferry ride than to get on the subway or a bus? Is there a security check on the Staten Island Ferry too? What kind of places or modes of transport are assigned security checks over other places? What are the criteria?

2. What places have you been to where you have had your bag searched or what places have expected security checks but found none? Not necessarily in the US but anywhere.

Just wondering.


[edit on 9/9/09 by Yossarian]

reply to post by Yossarian


Probably because this ferry is run by the federal government (National Park Service) and the federal government is more likely to waste your tax dollars than state or local government (who run the Staten Island Ferry).

i would answer that the statue of liberty is a bigger target so they take extra "precautions"