Summer arrived on the South Perth ferry on 13 September, and it arrived by timetable. Until 18 July 2027 Transperth sends a boat across the Swan from Elizabeth Quay every fifteen minutes for most of the day, twice as often as it will in winter — and the crossing to Mends Street still takes eight minutes.
Transperth Ferry Timetable 300, effective 13 September 2026: summer times to 18 July 2027, winter times 19 July to 11 September 2027. PDF and Transperth's interactive timetable both read on 24 September 2026 Transperth – Ferry Timetable 300 (PDF) · 2026-09-24
Summer on this crossing starts with a date on a timetable rather than with the first hot day. Transperth's summer grid began on Sunday 13 September 2026 and runs until Sunday 18 July 2027, and for those ten months a weekday boat leaves Elizabeth Quay every fifteen minutes from 07:00 until well into the evening. The winter grid that follows, from 19 July to 11 September 2027, halves that to one boat every half hour and finishes at 21:00 — so turning up at the jetty without looking means a wait of up to fourteen minutes in January and up to twenty-nine in August.
It is worth being clear about what this ferry is. Transperth publishes exactly one ferry timetable, number 300, and it has exactly two stops: Elizabeth Quay Jetty in the Perth CBD and Mends Street Jetty in South Perth. It is public transport run for the Public Transport Authority of Western Australia, paid for with the same fares as a bus or a train, and it takes eight minutes to South Perth and ten minutes back on every departure in the timetable.
Inside the summer season, the day of the week matters more than the month. Monday to Thursday the last boat leaves the city at 22:00. Friday adds six late departures, the last at 23:30. Saturday starts later — 07:30 — and runs just as late as Friday, while Sundays and public holidays stop at 21:30 from Elizabeth Quay. The next of those holidays is close: Monday 28 September 2026 is the King's Birthday in Western Australia, and Transperth's own planner runs the Sunday timetable that day.
There is no ferry ticket as such. The boat is part of the Transperth network, and a single crossing is charged as a 2 Sections fare — Transperth's name for any one-way ride of 3.2 kilometres or less on one bus, train or ferry. Elizabeth Quay to Mends Street is about 1.4 kilometres, so that is the fare you pay.
What you pay it with changes the number. A bank card tapped on the reader is charged the full cash rate; a SmartRider takes 10% off, and a SmartRider on Autoload takes 20% off. Concession fares only work on a Concession SmartRider or a cash ticket, not on a bank card.
| Cash ticket from the jetty machine | $ 2.40 |
| Contactless bank card or phone | $ 2.40 |
| SmartRider | $ 2.16 |
| SmartRider on Autoload | $ 1.92 |
| Child aged 4 and under | Free |
| Cash ticket | $ 1.10 |
| Concession SmartRider | $ 0.99 |
| Concession SmartRider on Autoload | $ 0.88 |
| Go Anywhere, three hours on the whole network, cash | $ 3.50 |
| Go Anywhere on SmartRider Autoload | $ 2.80 |
| DayRider, unlimited travel for the day | $ 7 |
| FamilyRider, up to seven people, cash only | $ 7 |
| Any Sunday trip on SmartRider or contactless | Free |
Transperth fares effective 1 January 2026, read on 24 September 2026 from the fares page and cross-checked in Transperth's printed guide Transperth – Fares · 2026-09-24
The whole route is one hop across the river, heading almost due south from Elizabeth Quay to the foot of Mends Street — about 1.4 kilometres jetty to jetty in a straight line, with the city skyline behind you on the way over and in front of you on the way back. There are no intermediate stops. The terminal at Elizabeth Quay is also where the Public Transport Authority plans to start its next ferry route, west towards Matilda Bay and Applecross; on the map below there is only the one line, because that is all that runs today.
The city end is Elizabeth Quay Jetty, stop 99997 in Transperth's own data — not Barrack Street Jetty, a few hundred metres along the same waterfront, which is where the Rottnest boats from Perth tie up. The mix-up is easy to make because the City of South Perth still names Barrack Street in one line of its public transport page. Buy a cash ticket from the machine on the jetty before you board, or tag on with a SmartRider or bank card. Elizabeth Quay Bus Station, with a Transperth InfoCentre, is the nearest place to ask a person.
The jetty is at the foot of Mends Street on the South Perth foreshore, and it is the only Transperth ferry stop south of the river. Transperth's map puts Perth Zoo eight minutes' walk away, which makes this the quickest public transport route from the CBD to the zoo gate. The City of South Perth describes the ferry as accessible for wheelchairs and scooters.
The summer grid runs from 13 September 2026 to 18 July 2027 and gives you a boat every fifteen minutes for most of the day. From 19 July to 11 September 2027 the winter grid takes over: every thirty minutes, finishing at 21:00 from the city, seven days a week.
Transperth asks passengers to be on the jetty five minutes before departure and closes the gates onto the ferry up to one minute before it leaves. On an eight-minute crossing, the minute you lose at the gate is the whole margin.
Bikes and e-scooters are allowed on the ferry at all times, peak hours included. There are four racks on board; once they are full you can still bring a bike on outside peak times, but anyone with a bike waits until everyone else has boarded.
SmartRider and bank-card fares are worked out from where you tag on and where you tag off, so use the reader at the far jetty as well. The free Sunday trip depends on it too: Transperth's rule is to tag on and off exactly as you would on any other day.
The METRONET on Swan project will add a route from Elizabeth Quay to Matilda Bay and Applecross. The terminal tenders have closed and a contract is still to be awarded, and no opening date has been published. Until it runs, Mends Street is the only place a Transperth ferry goes.
Search for ferries in Perth and you will quickly find maps with far more lines on them than this one. They are plans. The Public Transport Authority's METRONET on Swan project is spending $107 million on a new route from the existing Elizabeth Quay terminal to Matilda Bay and Applecross; tenders to design and build the two new terminals have closed, and a contract is due in the coming months. Claisebrook Cove, Optus Stadium, Burswood Park, Point Fraser and Canning Bridge are only listed as places being explored. None of that appears in timetable 300, and none of it changes the South Perth crossing today.
The river is busier than the Transperth map suggests, though, because not every boat on it is Transperth's. A few hundred metres from Elizabeth Quay Jetty, Barrack Street Jetty is where the commercial operators leave for Rottnest — a ninety-minute run down the river to Rottnest, priced as a day out rather than a commute, and the reason the Fremantle departure exists for anyone who wants the island sooner. The South Perth boat is the opposite proposition: no booking, no luggage labels, a fare under three dollars, and another one along in a quarter of an hour.
No. Transperth's ferry leaves from Elizabeth Quay Jetty, stop 99997, a short walk along the waterfront from Barrack Street Jetty. Barrack Street is where the Rottnest operators depart. The City of South Perth still mentions Barrack Street in one line of its website, which is where the confusion comes from.
Every fifteen minutes for most of the day. The summer timetable in force from 13 September 2026 to 18 July 2027 runs quarter-hourly from 07:00 to 21:30 out of the city on a weekday, and from 10:00 at weekends; before that it is half-hourly. From 19 July 2027 it drops to every thirty minutes.
A normal fare. The crossing is a 2 Sections trip, the shortest fare on the network: $2.40 cash or by bank card, $2.16 on a SmartRider and $1.92 on a SmartRider with Autoload. The concession fare is $1.10 cash.
Only that you must tag on and off with a SmartRider or a contactless bank card; do that and every Transperth service is free on Sundays. Paying cash, you still need a ticket from the jetty machine, and the free travel does not extend to late services after midnight on Saturday night.
In summer it leaves Mends Street at 22:15 Monday to Thursday, 23:45 on Friday and Saturday, and 21:45 on Sundays and public holidays; each arrives at Elizabeth Quay ten minutes later. In the winter timetable from 19 July 2027 the last boat back is 21:15 every day.
Not yet, and not on this route. A new Elizabeth Quay – Matilda Bay – Applecross service is being built under the METRONET on Swan project, with terminal tenders closed and a contract still to be awarded. Canning Bridge, Optus Stadium and other points are only being explored. Today the only Transperth ferry stop in South Perth is Mends Street.
About eight minutes on foot from Mends Street Jetty, according to the map printed on Transperth's timetable. With an eight-minute crossing on top, you can be at the zoo gate roughly a quarter of an hour after leaving Elizabeth Quay.
Yes, on the Sunday and public holiday timetable. On Monday 28 September 2026 the first boat leaves Elizabeth Quay at 07:30 and the last at 21:30. Transperth's free-travel rule is written for Sundays and does not mention public holidays, so plan on paying the normal fare.