Madeline Island ferry
Vehicle ferryGreat Lakes · Madeline Island Ferry Line
Bayfield to La Pointe, until the ice takes the job
$11.00Adult, one way
20 to 25 minutesCrossing
$20.50Car under 19 ft, one way
Every crossing has its own page: the sailings the operator actually publishes, the fares in force, and how to reach both landings. The date each table was checked sits next to it.
American ferries answer to nobody in particular. Some are run by a state department of transportation and cost nothing to cross; some belong to a county that has operated the same reach of river since before the Civil War; some are private companies carrying tourists to an island for the season and tying up in October. There is no national timetable and no national fare table, and that is why each page here is built from the operator's own publication rather than from a single database.
That patchwork changes what a page can promise. A Maine island run publishes exact sailing times months ahead, because the boat is the road. A cable ferry on a river publishes a cadence instead — every fifteen minutes, daylight hours — and stops when the river floods. Where an operator publishes no grid at all, this site explains the mechanism instead of inventing a schedule that does not exist.
Fares work the same way. A crossing may be free because the state treats it as highway, or it may charge separately for the driver, the vehicle and its length. Each fare table here carries the date it was read and a link to the operator's own page, because seasonal rates and fuel surcharges move without notice.
Every marker is a landing with a page behind it; the dashed line between two of them is the crossing itself. Open one to get the sailing times, the fares and how to reach either side.
Bayfield to La Pointe, until the ice takes the job
the short route from Catawba Island
937 feet across the Chautauqua Lake narrows
the Fire Island run that changes terminal at the weekend
two wooden sternwheelers, May to October
the free crossing DelDOT runs on a weekday clock
the crossing that carries cars
the mailboat with two island landings
a seasonal run across Frenchman Bay
eighteen hours a day, on demand, for nothing
Crossing time and sailings as each operator states them. The numbers are not always comparable: some lines publish a fixed headway, others count the departures of a single weekday, and the seasonal runs publish neither out of season. A dash means the operator does not publish that figure.
| Crossing | Region | Service | Crossing time | Sailings | Operator |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Madeline Island ferry | Great Lakes | Vehicle ferry | 20 to 25 minutes | – | Madeline Island Ferry Line |
| Miller Ferry to Put-in-Bay | Great Lakes | Vehicle ferry | Under 20 minutes | Hourly, 11 a day each way | Miller Ferry |
| Bemus Point–Stow ferry | Mid-Atlantic | Cable ferry | 937 feet | – | The Bemus Point-Stow Ferry |
| Kismet ferry | Mid-Atlantic | Passenger ferry | About 30 minutes | – | Fire Island Ferries |
| Millersburg Ferry | Mid-Atlantic | Seasonal service | 15 to 25 minutes | – | Millersburg Ferry |
| Woodland Ferry | Mid-Atlantic | Vehicle ferry | – | – | DelDOT |
| Portland–Peaks Island ferry | New England | Vehicle ferry | 17 minutes | 16 each way | Casco Bay Lines |
| Stonington–Isle au Haut ferry | New England | Island service | About 45 minutes | 3 each way | Isle au Haut Boat Services |
| Winter Harbor–Bar Harbor ferry | New England | Seasonal service | About 45 minutes | October 12 | Downeast Windjammer Cruise Lines |
| Keller Ferry | Pacific Northwest | Vehicle ferry | 10 minutes | – | WSDOT |
| Madeline Island ferry: Bayfield to La Pointe, until the ice takes the job | Vehicle ferry | $11.00 |
| Miller Ferry to Put-in-Bay: the short route from Catawba Island | Vehicle ferry | Under 20 minutes |
| Bemus Point–Stow ferry: 937 feet across the Chautauqua Lake narrows | Cable ferry | 937 feet |
| Kismet ferry: the Fire Island run that changes terminal at the weekend | Passenger ferry | $13.00 |
| Millersburg Ferry: two wooden sternwheelers, May to October | Seasonal service | May to October |
| Woodland Ferry: the free crossing DelDOT runs on a weekday clock | Vehicle ferry | Free, both directions |
| Portland–Peaks Island ferry: the crossing that carries cars | Vehicle ferry | 17 minutes |
| Stonington–Isle au Haut ferry: the mailboat with two island landings | Island service | About 45 minutes |
| Winter Harbor–Bar Harbor ferry: a seasonal run across Frenchman Bay | Seasonal service | About 45 minutes |
Because of who owns it. When a state department of transportation treats a crossing as part of a highway, the ride is usually free to everyone, in the same way a bridge is. When a county, a township or a private company runs it, the boat has to pay for itself and there is a fare. Two crossings a few miles apart can fall on opposite sides of that line.
It varies by operator, which is why each fare table here is laid out the way the operator lays it out. Some charge one price for the vehicle and let the driver ride included; others charge the driver as a passenger on top of the vehicle. Vehicle rates usually step up by length, so a pickup with a trailer is not priced like a sedan.
Island runs in Maine and on the Great Lakes change character rather than stopping. Sailings thin out, some seasonal landings close for the year, and ice can suspend service altogether on the lakes. A summer timetable read in January will be wrong, so each page states the period its table covers.
On most American crossings, yes: you join the line and board in order. Reservations exist mainly where a vehicle deck is small and demand is seasonal. Where booking is genuinely required rather than merely advisable, the page for that crossing says so near the top.
Next to every table is the day somebody read it off the operator's own publication, with a link straight to that source so you can see it for yourself. Each crossing also has a date by which it must be researched again, and is. None of that helps if a boat is pulled for repairs or ice on the morning you travel — for that, the operator's service notices are the only thing worth reading.