St. Johns River Ferry in Jacksonville, Florida

The St. Johns River Ferry is a car and passenger ferry that links the north and south ends of State Road A1A in Duval County, between Mayport Village and Fort George Island.

The Jacksonville Transportation Authority describes a 0.9-mile voyage that crosses the St. Johns River 2.5 miles inland of the river's mouth, takes roughly 5 minutes and departs every half hour. The JTA lists the loading docks on Ocean Street on the Mayport side and at 9618 Heckscher Drive on the Fort George side; its directions page gives the Mayport dock as both 4680 and 4780 Ocean Street, so the street, not the number, is the reliable part.

Without the ferry, the crossing becomes a drive. The JTA's new ferry vessel page puts the detour at approximately 24 miles by car via I-295 over the Dames Point Bridge. The JTA history timeline records that the authority assumed ownership and operations of the ferry in 2016, and the ferry page gives the start date as March 31, 2016. A May 2025 JTA update names HMS Ferries as its operations partner.

The ferry runs every day, leaving Mayport Village on the hour and half hour, with weekday service starting at 6 in the morning and weekend service at 7, on the JTA ferry schedule as posted on October 18, 2026.

The last Mayport departure is at 7:00 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 8:30 p.m. on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Return trips leave Fort George Island at a quarter past and a quarter to the hour, 15 minutes behind the Mayport side.

The same JTA page also carries an older line saying that, effective November 1, 2023, hours are 6:00 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Monday through Sunday from Mayport. That line conflicts with the day-by-day table directly below it, which shows earlier closings Monday through Thursday and a later weekend start, so a rider heading for a weekday evening crossing should check the live departure board on the JTA site or the MyJTA app before driving out.

A car under 20 feet pays $7 on weekdays and $8 on weekends, and a pedestrian or cyclist pays $1, on the JTA fare table as posted on October 18, 2026.

Ticket books cover 20 trips and can be used seven days a week. Pedestrians and cyclists with a valid Senior or Reduced Fare ID STAR Card or a Paratransit E-STAR Card ride for $0.50 every day and must show the card to the toll-taker before boarding; an expired card means full fare. The JTA asks drivers to stay with the vehicle until the toll is collected.

The Jacksonville Transportation Authority has owned and operated the St. Johns River Ferry since 2016 and has rebuilt its slips in phases since then.

The JTA history timeline lists the JTA assuming ownership and operations of the St. Johns River Ferry among its 2016 milestones, and the ferry page gives the start date as March 31, 2016. In 2017, the timeline says, the JTA completed Phase I and Phase II of the ferry repairs and improvements, including new slip walls and fender systems. A May 2025 JTA update names HMS Ferries as the authority's operations partner on the crossing.

The shore work continued into 2024. The January 2024 JTA notice describes Phase V as catwalk access and mooring bollards at Fort George, updated warehouse equipment and systems, improved signage, preservation and refurbishment of the bridge gantry, a replaced approach slab and renovations to the Fort George breakroom, all part of the JTA's MOVE2027 RegionalWorks strategy for waterborne transportation in Northeast Florida. The ferry page lists earlier projects at both landings, including new fencing around the Mayport fuel tanks, pedestrian access to the Mayport boarding area, renovated restrooms at Fort George and restriped queue lanes.

The JTA has also spent heavily on the crossing. Its September 2024 announcement said the authority had secured over $35 million in discretionary grants for the ferry since taking it over in 2016, which with the local match adds up to more than $55 million in capital upgrades.

The ferry is the short link between the Mayport and Beaches end of A1A and the Fort George Island and Fernandina Beach end, against a road detour of about 24 miles.

The JTA directions give the drive from Fernandina Beach as about 16 miles south on State Road A1A to the Fort George ramp, and the drive from the Beaches as Atlantic Boulevard, Mayport Road and A1A into the Village of Mayport. The ferry also sits inside a national park unit: the JTA notes that riders entering the ferry are entering the Timucuan Preserve, part of the National Park System, and that a park ranger may be on board from time to time. The National Park Service lists the St. Johns River Ferry as one of the ways to reach the Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve.

On the north bank, the National Park Service directions to the Ribault Club tell drivers coming along Heckscher Drive to pass the ferry landing and then turn onto Fort George Island for the Ribault Club and Fort George Island Visitor Center, an interagency visitor center owned by the Florida Park Service. On weekends, the JTA says, the Friends of the Ferry provide ambassadors on board to answer questions about the area.

The ferry stops whenever its only boat or one of its ramps needs work, because the JTA has no second vessel to fill in.

The JTA said in September 2024 that service has to be suspended for several weeks every year for vessel maintenance, and that the ferry still carried over 391,000 riders so far in fiscal year 2024. The JTA suspended service from February 5 to February 26, 2024, for Phase V upgrades and engine maintenance, according to its January 2024 notice, with service due back on February 27, according to a follow-up release. Its history timeline records that Phase I and Phase II repairs, including new slip walls and fender systems, were completed in 2017.

The longest recent closure began on the evening of Sunday, May 4, 2025, when the ferry made contact with the boarding ramp while departing Mayport Landing. A May 8, 2025 JTA update said the vessel remained fully operable but the ramp needed repairs estimated at six to twelve weeks. The JTA announced on June 11, 2025 that service would reopen on Friday, June 13, two weeks ahead of schedule, and that crews had also finished most of the Coast Guard required maintenance scheduled for the following year.

The Jean Ribault is the only ferry vessel on the route, and a second, hybrid-electric ferry is in design, paid for largely by a $15.6 million Low-No Ferry Grant from the Federal Transit Administration that the JTA received in 2024.

The JTA says the Jean Ribault was constructed in 1995, and its project page says a vessel of this type has an expected useful life of 30 to 40 years. The boat carries the name of the French Huguenot Jean Ribault, who, according to the Naval Station Mayport history, arrived off what is now Mayport, near the mouth of the St. Johns River, on May 1, 1562.

A February 2024 JTA release said that three weeks of preventative maintenance that winter would extend the Jean Ribault's service life, and the work came with the Phase V shore upgrades: catwalk access and mooring bollards at Fort George Island, warehouse equipment, signage, bridge gantry refurbishment and a new approach slab.

The JTA project page describes a diesel hybrid-electric ferry of similar size and capacity to the Jean Ribault, says design began in 2025 and will continue through 2026, lists an estimated cost of $16,186,500 and a status of Planning, and places the project in City Council Districts 2 and 13. Once the new boat arrives, the Jean Ribault is to be kept as a relief vessel so that maintenance no longer shuts down the crossing. The JTA has not posted a delivery date on that page.

Last verified: October 18, 2026, by re-reading the JTA ferry schedule and fare page, the new vessel project page, the JTA history timeline and its 2024 and 2025 ferry releases, the National Park Service Timucuan Preserve and Ribault Club directions.