Since January 20, 2026, a free 55-passenger boat has left Maurice Gibb Memorial Park at 18th Street and Purdy Avenue every weekday. It crosses Biscayne Bay to Venetian Marina & Yacht Club at 1635 N Bayshore Drive in about 20 minutes. The city markets it to commuters. Its spring ridership pattern followed visitors. Early-morning boats crossed nearly empty, and seats got scarce from late morning on and again in the evening. If you live on the Sunset Islands and work in Downtown Miami, that pattern decides how you use the service.
Who Fills the Boat, and When
The Miami Herald rode along in mid-April. Using city data, the paper reported an average of more than 1,000 riders a day across 32 one-way trips. Capt. Carlos Dominguez told the Herald that most riders are out-of-towners. He said ridership picks up around 10 or 11 a.m., after rush hour, and usually peaks on Friday evenings.
The Herald's counts that Wednesday show the gap:
| Trip on April 15, 2026 | Riders |
|---|---|
| 8:00 a.m., Miami to Miami Beach | 2 |
| 8:30 a.m., Miami Beach to Miami | 5 |
| 10:30 a.m., waiting to board at Maurice Gibb | 26 |
| 6:00 p.m., Miami to Miami Beach | 47 of 55 seats |
The 8:30 a.m. departure from Maurice Gibb is the one a downtown commuter on the Sunset Islands would take, and that day it carried five people. The 6 p.m. boat home from Miami was nearly full.
Demand has also outrun capacity at times. Miami Today reported 73,254 riders from launch through May 1, with about 8 percent of waiting passengers left behind because the boats were full. An earlier Miami Today report quoted Mayor Steven Meiner as estimating the turn-away share at about 10 percent. In late May, according to Miami Beach Review, Meiner posted that ridership had reached 82,000. All of these figures date from spring 2026, and no newer count has been published. They describe the pattern at that time, not a guarantee for any particular boat this fall.
The Timetable a Commuter Actually Uses
Two things matter in the city's schedule. The two ends run on offset clocks during the day, and frequency doubles in the late afternoon. Until 4 p.m., boats leave Venetian Marina on the hour and leave Maurice Gibb on the half hour. Service runs hourly from 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. At 4:30 a second vessel joins, and boats then leave both ends every 30 minutes until 7:30 p.m.
For a Sunset Islands resident working downtown, that comes to:
- Morning out: departures from Maurice Gibb at 7:30, 8:30 and 9:30 a.m., arriving at Venetian Marina at 7:50, 8:50 and 9:50.
- Afternoon back: hourly departures from Miami until 4 p.m., then the 4:30 boat.
- Evening back: departures from Miami every half hour from 4:30 to 7 p.m. The 7 p.m. is the last boat to Miami Beach and arrives at 7:20.
- Last boat out: the 7:30 p.m. departure from Maurice Gibb, arriving in Miami at 7:50.
The boat does not run on weekends, and it does not run on observed federal holidays unless the city says otherwise. November brings two of them. Veterans Day and Thanksgiving Day, along with the day after, are on the city's observed-holiday list, so check before you count on a crossing on those dates. The city repeated the weekday-only schedule in an August 25 post, its most recent public notice of service hours.
Read against the Herald's counts, the schedule favors the morning commuter. Morning boats leave on the half hour and had seats to spare in April. The evening ride home, especially on Fridays, is when you share the boat with day-trippers, and it is where the reported turn-aways fit.
Both Ends of the Crossing
The boat covers the bay, and the rest of the trip depends on the connections at each dock. On the Miami Beach side, a Citi Bike station sits at the northwest corner of Purdy Avenue and 18th Street, and the captain may allow bicycles and scooters on board if there is room. The city says Freebee's on-demand service connects to the water taxi at both stops.
On the Miami side, a June 17 city memo lists transit within walking distance of Venetian Marina. It names the Adrienne Arsht Center Metromover station on the Omni Loop, the Omni Bus Terminal, and City of Miami trolley routes serving the Omni and the Arts and Entertainment District. The city's water-taxi page also points riders to the Downtown–Brickell Freebee.
The Herald's reporting includes one rider who chained these pieces together. Abraham Arias rode a Citi Bike from Wynwood to Sunset Harbour for a yoga class, then took the water taxi back across the bay before work. Matthew Gultanoff, a transit advocate the Herald quoted, offered the main caveat: the trip takes about 20 minutes, and direct transit connections are limited, so the boat works best when you are not in a hurry.
The Same Dock Has Hosted a Failed Ferry Before
Long-time Sunset Harbour neighbors will remember the earlier boat at this park. In June 2024, according to Miami New Times, the city funded the Poseidon Ferry at $50,000 a month. It ran hourly between Maurice Gibb Memorial Park and Sea Isle Marina, and adults paid a $12 one-way fare. Mechanical failures started in July. The service was suspended in late August when a spare vessel became unavailable, and in September commissioners voted to end its funding. While it ran, the 2024 ferry averaged about 43 riders a day.
The current service uses the same park and almost the same Miami landing. It differs in being free and fully funded. The operator is Water Taxi of Miami Beach, LLC, under a concession agreement the City Commission approved on December 17, 2025. The Herald reported that the weekday schedule costs $1.2 million a year, split evenly between the city and a state grant. Running seven days a week had been estimated at $2 million a year. The lack of weekend service is a budget choice, and the city has already shown it can run weekend boats when it decides to. For the World Cup Finals weekend of July 18 and 19, the city ran boats every 30 minutes from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m., with shuttles from the Maurice Gibb landing to watch parties in North Beach and South Beach.
What the City Is Weighing for Maurice Gibb Park
Several proposals now before the city would change how the park works as a terminal. None is approved, and none is in place.
- A trolley stop in the park. In a June 17 memo heard at the July 15 Public Safety and Neighborhood Quality of Life Committee, City Manager Eric Carpenter recommended "implementing a Miami Beach Trolley stop within the Maurice Gibb Memorial Park parking lot" for water-taxi riders. Commissioner Laura Dominguez sponsored the referral, and Commissioner Tanya K. Bhatt co-sponsored it.
- Dock comfort and access. The Herald reported that the city is evaluating a permanent disability-compliant ramp at the park, along with "shade, seating, signage, and restroom options."
- More routes. On May 20 the Commission took up a citywide water-taxi program sponsored by Meiner, Dominguez and Bhatt. Miami Today reported the options under discussion, including weekend service, more vessels at rush hour and for events, and new routes for South of Fifth, North Beach and a north–south run along Miami Beach.
- The 2027 Boat Show. On September 3, show organizer Informa asked the city to run eight vessels on this route from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. on all five show days. City staff estimated the extra cost at about $135,000 and noted that no funding has been identified in the FY2026 or FY2027 budgets.
The same Boat Show memo says the regular service is already scheduled to run Wednesday through Friday during the 2027 show with two vessels. The city is planning this route into next year, and the open questions are about how much more service to add.
Our team follows small changes like a new dock or a new trolley stop because they shape everyday life on the islands well before they appear in any listing. If you are weighing how easy it is to get between the Sunset Islands and Downtown Miami, Carlo Dipasquale would be glad to talk it through. Schedule a private consultation.
