Ferries

A ferry is a form of transport, usually a boat or ship, carrying (or ferrying) passengers and sometimes their vehicles. Ferries are also used to transport freight (in lorries and sometimes unpowered freight containers) and even railroad cars. more...

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Most ferries operate on regular, frequent, return services. A foot-passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, is sometimes called a waterbus or water taxi.

Ferries form a part of the public transport systems of many waterside cities, allowing direct transit between points at a capital cost much lower than bridges or tunnels.

Notable ferry services

The busiest seaway in the world is the route which connects Great Britain with the rest of Europe across the English Channel. Connecting mainly to French ports, such as Calais, Cherbourg-Octeville and Le Havre, ferries from the United Kingdom also sail to Belgium, Denmark, The Netherlands, Norway and Spain. Some ferries carry mainly tourist traffic, but most also carry freight, and some are exclusively for the use of freight lorries.

Large cruiseferries also sail in the Baltic Sea between Finland, Sweden, Germany and Estonia, and from Italy to Albania and Greece. In many ways, these ferries are like cruise ships, but they can also carry hundreds of cars on car decks. In Britain, car-carrying ferries are sometimes referred to as RORO (roll-on, roll-off) for the ease by which vehicles can board and leave.

In Australia, two Spirit of Tasmania ferries carry passengers and vehicles 300 kilometres across the Bass Strait, which separates Tasmania from the Australian mainland. These run overnight but also include additional day crossings in peak time. Both ferries are based in the northern Tasmanian port city of Devonport; both ferries travel the route to Melbourne, Victoria. Hong Kong has the Star Ferry and the First Ferry.

Due to the numbers of large freshwater lakes and length of shoreline in Canada, many provinces and territories have ferry services. BC Ferries, British Columbia, carries travellers between Vancouver Island and the B.C. mainland. It also services other islands including the Gulf Islands and the Queen Charlotte Islands. In Halifax, Nova Scotia a 12 minute harbour ferry service operated by Metro Transit is used by over 3000 commuters daily trying to avoid gridlock on the Macdonald and Mackay bridges. In Ontario, a popular ferry service that transports the public, as well as goods and services, is the Chi-Cheemaun. Toronto also has a ferry service that shuttles beach-goers, tourists and aircraft passengers between the downtown core and Toronto Island beach and airport. The island province of Newfoundland is accessible only by air or by Marine Atlantic ferries; Prince Edward Island was only connected to the mainland by ferries until the opening of the Confederation Bridge in 1997.

Washington State Ferries operates the most extensive ferry system in the United States with ten routes on Puget Sound and the Strait of Juan de Fuca serving terminals in Washington and Vancouver Island. In fiscal year 1999, Washington State Ferries carried 11 million vehicles and 26 million passengers. The Staten Island Ferry in New York City, with service between the boroughs of Manhattan and Staten Island, is the nation's single busiest ferry route by passenger volume.

Read more at Wikipedia.org