page_title: Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority
section_title: Ferries
hierarchical_section_title: Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority / Services / Ferries
caption_attribution_description: The Lightning on a Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority inner harbor F2 service, arriving at Boston's Long Wharf from Quincy.
context_page_description: The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority is the public agency responsible for operating most public transportation services in Greater Boston, Massachusetts. Earlier modes of public transportation in Boston were independently owned and operated; many were first folded into a single agency with the formation of the Metropolitan Transit Authority in 1947. The MTA was replaced in 1964 with the present-day MBTA, which was established as an individual department within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts before becoming a division of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation in 2009.
  The MBTA and Philadelphia's Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority are the only US transit agencies that operate all five major types of terrestrial mass transit vehicles: light rail vehicles; heavy rail trains; regional rail trains; electric trolleybuses; and motor buses. In 2016, the system averaged 1,277,200 passengers per weekday, of which heavy rail averaged 552,500 and the light-rail lines 226,500, making it the fourth-busiest subway system and the busiest light rail system in the United States.
context_section_description: The MBTA boat system comprises several ferry routes via Boston Harbor. One of these is an inner harbor service, linking the downtown waterfront with the Boston Navy Yard in Charlestown. The other routes are commuter routes, linking downtown to Hingham, Hull, and Salem. Some commuter services operate via Logan International Airport.
  All boat services are operated by private sector companies under contract to the MBTA. In FY2005, the MBTA boat system carried 4,650 passengers (0.41% of total MBTA passengers) per weekday. The service is provided through contract of the MBTA by Boston Harbor Cruises (BHC).
caption: Commuter boat from Quincy approaching the dock at Long Wharf (service from Quincy was discontinued in 2013)
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