Ferries from Dumbo/Fulton Ferry

Robert Fulton's steam ferry Nassau started crossing here in 1814 and gave the place its name. The Brooklyn Bridge opened overhead in 1883 and made the crossing redundant. The boats came back in 2017, and this is now the busiest single link in the NYC Ferry system — four minutes from Wall Street, directly beneath the bridge that closed it.

The numbers

From our timetable, DUMBO to Pier 11 / Wall St. carries 95 sailings and the return 97 — the highest pair count anywhere in New York harbour on this site. The crossing takes about 4 to 8 minutes depending on direction and routing.

The operator is NYC Ferry, the city-run network, and the fare structure is the city's rather than a private operator's.

⚠ NYC Ferry and NY Waterway are not the same system

At Pier 11 on the far side, two networks share the slips: NYC Ferry to Brooklyn and Queens, and NY Waterway to New Jersey. Tickets do not transfer between them.

If your journey continues to Hoboken or Jersey City, you are buying a second, unrelated ticket from a different company at the same pier.

Where the landing is

Fulton Ferry sits at the bottom of Old Fulton Street between the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges, on the edge of DUMBO and Brooklyn Bridge Park. The view back at Manhattan from the water is the reason a commuter service also carries a great many people who are not commuting.

Subway connections are a few minutes' walk uphill, which is the one awkward part of the arrival.

What it is good for

It is the fastest way between Lower Manhattan and DUMBO at rush hour, and it beats walking the bridge in bad weather. For visitors it doubles as a harbour crossing at a public transport fare.

Timing

The pattern is commuter-shaped, with the heaviest service on weekday peaks, but weekend traffic here is substantial and leisure-driven — unusual on a network that is otherwise built around the working day.