Pensacola Bay ferry service ridership numbers released by National Park Service

Since Pensacola's fledgling ferry service began June 22, more than 5,600 passengers have taken the boats from downtown to Pensacola Beach, the National Park Service said Wednesday. 

The route has been the most popular of the six legs on the triangular route serviced by the two, 150-passenger ferries that run from downtown, Pensacola Beach and Fort Pickens, according to ridership numbers from June 22 through Aug. 30, which were released late Wednesday. 

The numbers did not include July 30 and 31, the park service said.

George Aswad, whose company Gulf Coast Maritime Services operates Pensacola Bay Cruises under a contract with the park service, said he needs the ridership numbers to grow for the venture to succeed. 

Aswad and the park service operated under a one-year contract for the 2018 season and are in the middle of contract negotiations for future years. 

"We will know a lot more about what is going on in about a week or so," said Aswad, who has reached out to Visit Pensacola for help promoting the ferry service.

Weekends only:Pensacola ferry schedule cut to weekends only as downtown dock prepares to open

In late August, Aswad said the company was reducing its previously announced schedule to weekends only through Nov. 4 because of a lack of demand. 

Service is scheduled to return in March if Aswad and the park service can reach an agreement on a contract.  

"We are continuing to work with George Aswad and Gulf Coast Maritime Services regarding the operation of Pensacola Bay Cruises beyond his current contract which expires at the end of 2018. We hope to have more information sometime in the next few days or so," said Dan Brown, superintendent of Gulf Islands National Seashore, in an email Wednesday.  

The ferries were funded with $5.2 million in restitution funds paid to the park service by oil giant BP in the aftermath of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

The city of Pensacola is finishing construction of a $3.5 million downtown dock and ferry terminal building to replace its temporary ticketing kiosk and the county has a ticketing facility near the Pensacola Beach Boardwalk.

Works continues:Construction on Pensacola ferry landing continues

Brown said officials have not surveyed ferry passengers about where they are from or why they are riding the ferries.

"However, anecdotally it appeared that a majority of the passengers enumerated above were local residents who had learned about the ferry from media coverage over the past few years," he said in a email detailing the passenger numbers. 

Brown said it appears the service isn't yet widely known among out-of-town visitors staying in hotels and other lodging facilities. 

"Out-of-town visitors are a very significant and still untapped audience," he said. 

While ridership to and from the beach and downtown topped 5,400 passengers each way between June 22 and Aug. 30, ridership to and from the beach and Fort Pickens and Fort Pickens and the city was significantly less at between 2,200 and 2,700. 

The numbers show 9,397 tickets were sold during the time period, but officials do not know how many of the tickets were for frequent rider passes or multi-day passes, Brown said. 

He said the park service did not have ridership numbers for July 30 and 31 and for Aug. 31 and for September until Oct. 15. 

Melissa Nelson Gabriel can be reached at mnelsongab@pnj.com or 850-426-1431.

Ridership between June 22 and Aug. 30

*The numbers exclude July 30 and July 31

• From downtown Pensacola to Fort Pickens: 2,649
• From downtown Pensacola to Pensacola Beach: 5,637
• From Fort Pickens to downtown Pensacola: 2,771
• From Fort Pickens to Pensacola Beach: 2,236
• From Pensacola Beach to downtown Pensacola: 5,421
• From Pensacola to Fort Pickens: 2,315
• Specialty cruises: 876