Transit & Streets Data retrieved 2026-08-22
NYC Ferry ridership
Boardings on NYC Ferry each year since 2018: 4.90 million the first full year, 7.37 million in 2025.
7.37 million
NYC Ferry boardings in 2025
Just under the record of 7.44 million, set in 2024. Boardings fell to 3.33 million in 2020, the pandemic low.
The numbers behind this chart
| Year | Annual NYC Ferry boardings |
|---|---|
| 2018 | 4,895,896 |
| 2019 | 6,362,351 |
| 2020 | 3,331,641 |
| 2021 | 4,516,283 |
| 2022 | 6,094,459 |
| 2023 | 6,881,144 |
| 2024 | 7,444,490 |
| 2025 | 7,368,126 |
The key years
What this counts
Boardings on NYC Ferry, summed from the hourly counts the operator reports for every route, landing, and hour. A boarding counts once per passenger per vessel, and, per NYCEDC's own field definition, the total includes off-duty NYCF crew, free children, and transfers between routes.
What it does not say
- Boardings, not unique riders: a commuter who transfers between routes on one trip is counted again at the transfer, and off-duty crew and free children are included in the total.
- NYC Ferry began carrying passengers in May 2017, but this dataset's hourly records start July 1, 2017, so 2017 is a partial year and is left off the chart.
- The system has added routes and landings since it launched, so part of the growth in this series reflects a bigger network, not only more riders on the routes that existed from the start.
The questions New Yorkers actually ask
How many people ride NYC Ferry?
7.37 million boardings in 2025, per the operator's own hourly data. That is just under the 7.44 million record, set in 2024.
Is NYC Ferry ridership still growing?
It grew every year from 2018 through 2024, when it hit 7.44 million, then eased slightly to 7.37 million in 2025.
The numbers move. We watch them.
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