North American cities with water-based transportation systems

[the resident09]

DC only recently has began to step it's game up and there's now water taxi service on the Potomac criss-crossing DC/MD/VA. Only about 4/5 stops now, but hopefully growing. Eventually would be nice to see more stops added or go further up and downstream. I believe there are plans to add taxi service to the Anacostia riverfront also.



https://www.cityexperiences.com/wash...potomac-river/

[PolarSeltzer]

Originally Posted by Natnasci

Washington State Ferries lists 10 routes and has 21 ferries. Are you including other ferry companies as well?

I ask, because BC Ferries has 25 routes and 35 ferries. Passenger count for BC is a couple of million less though.

From what I could dig up, Washington State Ferries is the largest ferry system in the USA, and BC Ferries is the largest in North America.

I know this thread isn't about size, but someone saying " it's not even close " is kind of laying down the gauntlet

Canada always beats us!

[michgc]

Originally Posted by the resident09

DC only recently has began to step it's game up and there's now water taxi service on the Potomac criss-crossing DC/MD/VA. Only about 4/5 stops now, but hopefully growing. Eventually would be nice to see more stops added or go further up and downstream. I believe there are plans to add taxi service to the Anacostia riverfront also.



https://www.cityexperiences.com/wash...potomac-river/

Also in the DC area is White's Ferry which goes from Poolesville, MD in Upper Montgomery County to Loudoun County, VA. It cuts off a lot of driving if you need to go from one area to the other. I took it a few times many years ago. It is quite busy!

This link says it is the last of 100 ferries that used to operate on the Potomac.

https://www.poolesvillemd.gov/338/Whites-Ferry

[arr430]

Originally Posted by michgc

This link says it is the last of 100 ferries that used to operate on the Potomac.

In those days, there were zero bridges. Ferries were the only way to travel cross-country.


Alexandria/Georgetown is the only scheduled public boat I can think of that connects two populated places on the same shore.

[michgc]

Originally Posted by michgc

Also in the DC area is White's Ferry which goes from Poolesville, MD in Upper Montgomery County to Loudoun County, VA. It cuts off a lot of driving if you need to go from one area to the other. I took it a few times many years ago. It is quite busy!

This link says it is the last of 100 ferries that used to operate on the Potomac.

https://www.poolesvillemd.gov/338/Whites-Ferry

It appears that White's Ferry closed in November 2020 due to a court case that said there was no evidence of a creation of a public landing on the Loudoun County side.

https://www.loudounhistory.org/history/whites-ferry/

[the resident09]

Originally Posted by michgc

It appears that White's Ferry closed in November 2020 due to a court case that said there was no evidence of a creation of a public landing on the Loudoun County side.

https://www.loudounhistory.org/history/whites-ferry/

It's under new ownership with plans to re-open 2022. They are working with Loudoun County now on the land rights issue:

https://wtop.com/local/2021/08/publi...opening-plans/

[Gantz]

Originally Posted by That_One_Guy

NYC’s Ferry map with the new line

https://wordpress.ferry.nyc/nycferry...ouncement-map/

New Jersey ferry system (NY Waterway)

https://www.nywaterway.com/RouteMaps.aspx

I highly recommend ferries and boats as a way to see NYC and travel throughout to travelers. It’s very overlooked, but also very affordable and efficient as well as scenic.

I would love to see maps of systems in other cities. Never knew that about Long Beach and that’s something I definitely want to try! It sounds amazing.




Ugh, I needed this! Is there only one route? Or are there more? The article doesn’t say or have any maps or anything. Thanks for sharing though.

It would be cool if someone made a map of various NYC ferry services together (NYC Ferry, NY Waterway, New York Water Taxi, etc). Don't we also have ferries out to Long Island?
I think the main issue why they are not used as much is because people don't know about these routes and I don't think they show up on Google maps. I am almost certain that from areas such as Bay Ridge the ferry is probably faster than the subway to get to lower Manhattan.

[arr430]

I think the Ohio River ferry from Fly OH to Sistersville WV is still running. A new bridge was built about 15 miles down. I once asked the Fly ferryman how long he could run the ferry, for the construction cost of the bridge. He did the math in his head and said "300 years".

[DeanoSF]

Before COVID, the SF Bay Ferry system had just over 3,000,000 passengers per year. From experience, this is largely a commuter service during the week for East Bay cities commuting to downtown San Francisco (the ferry service was started after the Loma Prieta earthquake shut down the Bay Bridge).

On the weekends, ferries to Sausalito, Larkspur, and Vallejo get busy with tourists, but the other routes stay pretty quiet.

On Giants' game days, there are also dedicated ferries that either do a free "short hop" around the Embarcadero from the ferry building to Oracle Park, or there have been dedicated ferries from Oakland/Alameda directly to Oracle Park in the past for major games, that can be booked in advance.