Yarmouth-Bar Harbor ferry ridership down by 19% for season

Nova ScotiaThe ferry service that recently wrapped up another season of crossings between Bar Harbor, Maine, and Yarmouth, N.S., saw a 19 per cent reduction in passenger traffic compared to last year.Decline attributed largely to reduced number of Canadians travelling to the U.S.Blair Rhodes · CBC News · Posted: Oct 22, 2025 4:25 PM EDT | Last Updated: 3 hours agoMark Wilson of Bay Ferries Ltd. says 90 per cent of the ferry service’s promotional budget is aimed at the American market. (Brett Ruskin/CBC)The ferry service that recently wrapped up another season of crossings between Yarmouth, N.S., and Bar Harbor, Maine, saw a 19 per cent reduction in passenger traffic compared to last year.Bay Ferries Ltd., the operator of the service, said in a news release Wednesday that nearly 40,000 passengers and more than 16,000 vehicles rode the CAT ferry in the 2025 season, which ran from May 15 to Oct. 15. That compares to about 49,000 passengers and nearly 20,000 vehicles last year.Mark Wilson, the president and chief executive officer of Bay Ferries Ltd., said a sizable decline in the number of Canadians using the service was the main factor in the year-over-year drop in passenger bookings, reflecting a national trend of Canadians shunning cross-border travel. But Wilson said the service isn’t really aimed at Canadians.”Bringing the tourists into Nova Scotia … at the end of the day is the main driver of the service,” Wilson said in an interview. “It’s not exporting people across to the United States.”Wilson said 90 per cent of the ferry service’s promotional budget is aimed at the American market, specifically Boston, New York and the state of Maine.He said market research shows about half of American travellers make their plans well in advance, while others wait until they can assess factors like the weather before making a reservation. He said the low Canadian dollar also draws American travellers.Before this year’s decline, Bay Ferries had seen three years of steady growth as the company emerged from the travel restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic. There were 36,000 passengers in 2022 and more than 38,000 the following season before the service attracted nearly 50,000 last year.MORE TOP STORIESABOUT THE AUTHORBlair Rhodes has been a journalist for more than 40 years, the last 31 with CBC. His primary focus is on stories of crime and public safety. He can be reached at blair.rhodes@cbc.ca