Portland–Peaks Island ferry: the crossing that carries cars

Peaks Island is the closest of the seven Casco Bay islands that Casco Bay Lines serves from Portland, and it is the busiest. It has a store, a school, a museum, a year-round population and a summer one, and it is inside the city limits — which is why the ferry behaves less like an excursion boat and more like a bus route that happens to float. Sailings start before six in the morning and the last one home is after eleven at night on Fridays and Saturdays. Of the New England crossings on this site it is the one that behaves least like a boat trip.

The operator is the Casco Bay Island Transit District, a public body that trades as Casco Bay Lines. That matters for two things this page keeps separate. First, fares are set as public rates and change on fixed calendar dates rather than by demand. Second, Peaks is the only island on the system with a scheduled car ferry, the Machigonne II, so the timetable is really two timetables printed in the same grid: one for anyone on foot and a smaller one for anyone with a vehicle.

The grid underneath covers the fall season, which the district dates from September 8 to October 12, 2026. The fare tables underneath change one day later, on October 13, when the peak season ends and an adult round trip drops from $16.00 to $8.00.

What the fall table looks like from the Maine State Pier

Fall schedule, September 8 – October 12, 2026; read from Casco Bay Lines on September 22, 2026   Casco Bay Lines — Peaks Island Schedule (fall table) · 2026-09-22

Round trips only: passengers one way, cars another

There is no one-way fare on this route. Every passenger ticket is a round trip, it is collected when you board in Portland, and nothing is checked on the way back — so a ticket bought on the 09:15 is good on whichever boat you feel like taking home. Tickets are not tied to a date or a sailing, but they do expire after 60 days and they have to match the season you actually travel in.

The vehicle fare is separate and works differently: it pays for the car and the driver, and every other person in the car needs a passenger ticket of their own. Rates step up by total length, counting trailers, bike racks and anything else that sticks out.

Peak season April 18 – October 12, 2026; off-peak October 13, 2026 – April 16, 2027   Casco Bay Lines — Ferry Passenger Fares and Vehicle Rates to Peaks Island · 2026-09-22

The Maine State Pier terminal and Forest City Landing

Both ends of this route are working landings rather than visitor facilities, and the practical difference between them is where the money changes hands: everything is paid for in Portland. The Fire Island boats to Kismet are arranged the same way, one shore holding the ticket window and the other the village.

Under three miles of Casco Bay, Commercial Street to Welch Street

Before you join the car ferry lane

• Fifteen minutes, in the lane

  Private vehicles are not reserved. Buy the ticket whenever you like, but the car itself has to be sitting in the vehicle lane a quarter of an hour before the boat goes; arrive later than that and you can be bumped to the next trip.

• The return is already paid for

  Passenger tickets are round trip and are taken from you in Portland. Nobody collects anything at Forest City Landing, and there is no ticket office on the island.

• No parking at the terminal

  The bays beside the building are five-minute loading spaces only. The Municipal Parking Garage next door is the closest public garage and reaches capacity on summer days; the ticket window hands out a parking map.

• Commercial vehicles do book

  Weekday commercial reservations cost $25.00 and must be made at least 24 hours ahead, up to two per trip. From the 15:15 Friday sailing through Sunday only one commercial vehicle per trip is accepted, at $50.00 or $100.00 depending on gross weight.

• Dogs need a ticket, carriers do not

  A dog travelling loose on a leash needs its own $4.50 ticket. Dogs in a pet carrier and service animals do not.

• Arrive by bus if you can

  METRO Route 8 serves the ferry terminal directly, with connections at the Elm Street Pulse to the Forest Avenue, USM, Maine Mall and Falmouth routes.

One million passengers a year across Casco Bay

Casco Bay Lines carries more than a million passengers a year across a bay that was first served by wooden steamers with coal-fired engines more than 150 years ago. The fleet today is steel and diesel, and the vessel that does the Peaks vehicle work, the Machigonne II, was built by Blount Marine in 1987 and takes 399 passengers and 12 cars. A new and larger boat, the Battery Steele, joined the district in 2026 with room for 599 passengers and 15 vehicles.

For visitors the island reads as a day trip — Forest City Landing, a rented bike or a golf cart, the Fifth Maine Museum, the views back at the city from Backshore. For the people who live there it is a commute, and that is the reason the first boat leaves Portland at 05:45 in a table otherwise built around daylight. A public district is not the only way to run a Maine island boat — the Stonington mailboat to Isle au Haut is a non-profit answering to a different set of owners.

The boats

Peaks Island ferry questions people actually ask in Portland