The Steamship Authority

Ferryboat at The Steamship Authority

The Steamship Authority carried 2,958,012 ferryboat boardings in FY2025 at $41.46 per ride. Ten years of National Transit Database figures for this service, with safety, reliability and the national comparison.

Ferryboat Falmouth, MA
← All of The Steamship Authority
FY2025 boardings
2.96M
+1.3% vs FY2024
Cost per ride
$41.46
+6.2% nationwide $17.28
Subsidy per ride
$29.34
+8.5% operating cost less fares
Fare recovery
29.2%
-4.8% nationwide 26.8%
Passenger miles
36.1M
average trip 12.19 miles
Operating cost
$122.6M
Vehicles in service
9
at maximum service
Rides per revenue hour
77.39
38.2K hours operated

Ridership

Monthly data through August 2026.

This year against the last five

Same months on one axis, so seasonality does not read as a trend

Annual boardings

Ten-year series

Cost

This service against every ferryboat operator in the country.

Cost per ride

This agency against the national figure for the same mode

Fare recovery

Share of operating cost covered by fares

Directly operated and purchased service, FY2025

NTD reports these separately. An agency that contracts a service out reports the contract price, which bundles costs a directly operating agency reports line by line.

Service Boardings Passenger miles Revenue hours Operating cost Cost / ride Subsidy / ride Fare recovery Vehicles
Directly operated 2,958,012 36,051,627 38,224 $122,625,229 $41.46 $29.34 29.2% 9

Safety and reliability

For this service alone.

Events by year

Complete calendar years only

Miles between failures

Revenue miles divided by mechanical failures. Higher is better.

Full series

Every year The Steamship Authority reported this service.

Year Boardings Passenger miles Revenue miles Revenue hours Operating cost Fares Cost / ride Subsidy / ride Fare recovery
2025 2,958,012 36,051,627 356,399 38,224 $122,625,229 $35,833,659 $41.46 $29.34 29.2%
2024 2,920,002 35,803,742 355,128 38,001 $113,968,044 $34,990,078 $39.03 $27.05 30.7%
2023 2,921,844 35,789,310 362,185 38,869 $105,830,984 $34,639,516 $36.22 $24.37 32.7%
2022 2,903,528 36,166,702 364,574 38,909 $99,829,787 $33,424,462 $34.38 $22.87 33.5%
2021 2,727,556 33,756,698 359,117 38,275 $93,061,763 $31,213,609 $34.12 $22.68 33.5%
2020 2,067,301 24,851,206 310,930 34,095 $90,201,343 $20,826,121 $43.63 $33.56 23.1%
2019 3,004,436 36,673,159 348,658 37,587 $90,705,302 $30,938,007 $30.19 $19.89 34.1%
2018 3,055,347 37,183,573 350,395 58,765 $77,878,353 $32,640,122 $25.49 $14.81 41.9%
2017 3,058,849 37,235,300 332,450 52,614 $76,758,263 $31,527,306 $25.09 $14.79 41.1%
2016 3,127,304 39,760,267 335,524 52,560 $74,887,242 $33,232,039 $23.95 $13.32 44.4%
2015 3,023,090 38,370,034 333,034 40,436 $63,275,624 $32,285,844 $20.93 $10.25 51%