Two changes are underway at the Balboa Island Ferry, and they run on very different clocks. The new electric boats got the headlines this year, with grant money, state agencies and a fleet described as the first of its kind in California. The paper ticket booklet in your car's console got a printed notice and a hard date. Starting January 1, 2027, the ferry will no longer accept older commuter passes. As of October 4, 2026, that leaves about 12 weeks.
The boats have no comparable date. The last public check-in came at the city's Harbor Commission in August, and the update on the ferry was "nothing new to report." For anyone who crosses between South Bay Front and the Fun Zone regularly, the January 1 deadline is the ferry change that needs action this season.
What Stops Working on New Year's Day
The ferry's notice covers two kinds of older commuter media: the green "tickets" and the old blue or red punch cards. The green passes stay valid until 1/1/2027. Until that date, riders can also bring old passbooks and punch cards to the ferry office, or send them by mail, to have them verified and exchanged. The posted office hours are Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The ferry runs from 6:30 a.m. to midnight every day of the year, but the office keeps a four-day week. On the posted schedule, the last office day before the cutoff is Thursday, December 31.
The current product is a booklet of 30 crossing tickets. Each ticket covers one car and its driver, and passengers pay extra. The booklet costs $64, which the ferry describes as a 29% saving off the regular fare. You can buy one at the office, by mail, or from a captain on board.
If you're working through an old stack of passes, the steps are short:
- Sort what you have. Green tickets and blue or red punch cards are the older passes named in the notice.
- Use them or exchange them before January 1, 2027. Green passes are valid until that date, and exchanges are accepted until then too.
- Exchange in person at the office next to the Island landing at 410 South Bay Front, Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
- Confirm the mail process before sending anything. The notice allows exchange by mail but doesn't print instructions. The address the ferry publishes for mail orders of new booklets is 410 South Bay Front, Balboa Island, CA 92662. For those orders, the ferry asks for a check payable to Balboa Island Ferry and a self-addressed stamped envelope.
- Buy a new booklet if you need one. The $64 booklet of 30 car-and-driver tickets is the only commuter product on the ferry's fares page.
The pass notice says nothing about walk-on or bike fares. The fare chart now posted on the ferry's site lists $2.00 for an adult pedestrian, $1.00 for a child ages 5 to 11, $2.25 for an adult with a bicycle, and free for children under 5.
The New Boats Are Meant to Look Like the Old Ones
The electric project grew out of a rule, not a choice. In December 2022, the California Air Resources Board issued harbor-craft regulations that gave short-run ferries until the end of 2025 to convert to battery-electric. The Beek family has run the ferry since 1919. They had put conversion costs at about $12 million and called that too expensive for the business to keep going.
The money is now in place. The Daily Pilot reported that in February 2026, the Air Resources Board, the South Coast Air Quality Management District and the ferry's owners signed agreements to electrify the fleet. More than $10 million in grants will cover most of the cost, including charging stations. South Coast AQMD's March 6, 2026 board packet lists a $7,914,396 contract with Balboa Island Ferry for fleet electrification and the charging infrastructure that supports it. Ferry president Seymour Beek called the agreements the start of "a new era of clean, quiet and sustainable ferry service for residents and visitors alike."
What will cross the harbor is a different question from who pays for it. Nate Capra, the ferry's operations manager and now its clean-air transition coordinator, told the Orange County Register in February that the docks will stay the same. He said the new ferries will look as much like the current ones as possible: the Admiral, built in 1954, the Captain from 1955 and the Commodore from 1957. They will even keep "smokestacks." On the Bay, the replacement is being designed so that it looks like nothing changed. The change riders will actually handle this year is in their hands at the deckhand's window.
Where the Electric Timeline Stood as of August
Since February, each public update has said the same thing in more detail. Here is the record in order:
| Date | Source | What it said |
|---|---|---|
| Feb. 18, 2026 | Daily Pilot | No conversion timetable announced; a ferry spokesperson said service would continue uninterrupted |
| Feb. 20, 2026 | Orange County Register | No shipyard chosen; Capra called a new ferry by year-end "within the realm of possibility" |
| Mar. 6, 2026 | South Coast AQMD board packet | $7,914,396 contract for fleet electrification and charging infrastructure |
| May 2026 | Newport Harbor Foundation | Repeats the plan to replace all three diesel vessels with battery-electric ferries |
| Aug. 12, 2026 | Harbor Commission minutes | "Nothing new to report" from the commission's ferry ad hoc committee |
Capra's year-end possibility came with caveats. He said the design phase, the chosen shipyard's schedule and the supply chain could all push the first boat later, and that the ferry plans to keep the public updated as the new vessels approach.
The August minutes also show one open question. Vice Chair Scully said he had not heard whether Joe Beek had met with the Balboa Bay Club about its approach to electrical infrastructure near the water, and that he would try to get an update for the next meeting. The commission's September 9 agenda had no ferry electrification item. The next meeting is October 14, and its agenda will be posted 72 hours ahead. That agenda is the next public place where a shipyard, a charger location or a schedule could appear.
The Wiring Under the Island Is a Separate Story
When the grants were announced, Supervisor Katrina Foley told the Daily Pilot that Southern California Edison had assured her the infrastructure to support electrification was under construction, for the island as well as the ferry. It's tempting to connect that to the trenching and alley work residents have lived with all year. None of the published updates makes that connection.
The island's underground utility project is a residential effort. The Balboa Island Improvement Association's July 31 update said this phase requires about 250 homes to connect to the new underground electrical system, with each homeowner hiring a licensed electrical contractor. Once those connections are done, the remaining overhead lines can come down. The association noted that some blocks are pooling together to get competitive bids, and that the City keeps a contractor list through Anna Baldenegro at the City of Newport Beach.
The same update said street and alley restoration would begin in August. The south bayfront alleys, two Marine Avenue alleys and Park Avenue were next on the list. Earlier in the summer, association president Susan Pearl wrote in The Island Bridge that the Marine Avenue and Balboa Avenue intersection was "beautiful" and that the drive down Balboa Avenue was considerably smoother. No later public update confirms whether the August restoration began on schedule. The street work and the ferry's chargers sit on separate timelines.
The Island's Fall, With the Cutoff Included
The association's newsletter and holiday tour page fill in the months between now and the pass deadline:
- Tuesday, Oct. 20, 7 p.m.: BIIA Classical Concert
- Tuesday, Oct. 27, 6 p.m.: BIIA Board Meeting
- Saturday, Oct. 31: Halloween
- Monday, Nov. 2: Ticket sales open for the 28th Annual Holiday Home Walking Tour
- Saturday, Nov. 14, noon: Veterans Day BBQ
- Tuesday, Nov. 17, 6 p.m.: BIIA Board Meeting
- Sunday, Dec. 13: Holiday Home Walking Tour
- Thursday, Dec. 31: Last scheduled ferry office day before older commuter passes are retired
- Friday, Jan. 1, 2027: Green tickets and blue or red punch cards no longer accepted on the boats
The summer season had its own classical concert at St. John Vianney Chapel, featuring the Syrinx Reed Quintet. The newsletter lists no venue for the October 20 concert, so check biia.org before you go.
Until a builder is named, the Admiral, the Captain and the Commodore will keep carrying cars from South Bay Front to Palm Street. The older passes have until New Year's Day.
The waterfront along South Bay Front is the kind of setting where small operating details, from ferry access to dock arrangements, shape everyday life on the island. High | Corkett follows those details closely for clients who own on and around Newport Harbor. If you're weighing a move on Balboa Island or nearby, Work With Us and start a confidential consultation.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
