Aquabus Ferries Schedules 2026

The Aquabus works False Creek in Vancouver with 18 small vessels calling at eight docks — Hornby Street, Granville Island, David Lam Park, Stamps Landing, Spyglass Place, Yaletown, Plaza of Nations and The Village.

Frequent enough that you do not check a timetable

Boats stop up and down the creek every 15 minutes or less, so the service works the way a bus route does — you turn up and go. The rainbow-painted hulls are a Vancouver fixture, and the crossing gives a view of the skyline from the water for the price of a short hop.

Bring what you like

Most boats and docks are pet friendly, bike friendly, wheelchair accessible and able to take large groups — a combination that is rare on small passenger craft and makes the Aquabus genuinely usable as transport rather than only as sightseeing.

Practical

Tickets are bought online or at the dock, and the route map can be downloaded for offline use — useful on a network where you pick your dock rather than your departure time.

From one boat to eighteen

Jeff and Margot Pratt started the Aquabus in June 1985 with a single boat. By the time Expo 86 arrived the fleet had grown to four, all of them the Jay Benford-designed rainbow boats that are now a Vancouver fixture, and they spent the World's Fair shuttling visitors between its waterfront sites. False Creek's banks have gone from industrial to metropolitan since, and the service grew with them: today there are 18 vessels crossing at intervals of 15 minutes or less.

The Cyquabus changed what the service could carry

In 1995 the company introduced its first Cyquabus — a boat built to take bicycles, strollers and wheelchairs. Eight of the eighteen are now Cyquabuses, and that is what turned a sightseeing shuttle into a genuine part of the city's transport network.

Accessibility: check the boat, and check the dock

Two separate questions, and the company answers them separately. Over half the fleet is wheelchair accessible — look for the wheelchair symbol on the front of the boat, and those same vessels take bikes and strollers. Docks are the other half of the problem: every dock is accessible except Spyglass and Plaza of Nations, which have steps. And at extremely low tide the ramps at Stamps Landing and Hornby Street can become too steep to use. If in doubt the office will tell you before you travel.

Dogs are encouraged, not merely tolerated

The company's own wording: dogs are "not just allowed, they are encouraged" — clean and on a leash. Bikes ride for a $1 supplement on top of the fare, on the platform boats.

Fares if you ride more than once

A strip of 20 Aquabucks costs $35 and never expires, valid on every route. If you are making three or more stops in a day, the day pass is $22 for adults and $19 for seniors and children, with unlimited travel for the calendar day. Commuter passes run $80 a month, $175 for three, $300 for six and $500 for a year, roughly a third less for children and seniors. Groups of 12 or more can arrange a discounted rate in advance.