The Steamship Authority

Ferryboat at The Steamship Authority

The Steamship Authority carried 2,920,002 ferryboat boardings in FY2024 at $39.03 per ride. Ten years of National Transit Database figures for this service, with safety, reliability and the national comparison.

Ferryboat Falmouth, MA
FY2024 boardings
2.92M
-0.1% vs FY2023
Cost per ride
$39.03
+7.8% nationwide $16.88
Subsidy per ride
$27.05
+11% operating cost less fares
Fare recovery
30.7%
-6.2% nationwide 25.8%
Passenger miles
35.8M
average trip 12.26 miles
Operating cost
$114M
Vehicles in service
9
at maximum service
Rides per revenue hour
76.84
38K hours operated

Ridership

Monthly data through July 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, FY2024

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 2,920,002 35,803,742 38,001 $113,968,044 $39.03 $27.05 30.7% 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
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%