The ferry service had a literally bumpy start. It initially docked at Point Street, inside the Fox Point Hurricane Barrier. That forced its skipper to make a dicey passage through one of the barrier’s openings, a space so narrow that the ferry hit the barrier.

In 2006, it moved to its present berth, Conley’s Wharf, off Allens Avenue near the head of Providence Harbor. The move got passengers better parking, cut the trip to Newport by 10 minutes, to about an hour, and avoids the hurricane barrier. In Newport Harbor, the ferry docks at Perrotti Park, on America’s Cup Avenue.

“We’ve been very pleased to see the positive reception" the ferry got from residents and tourists, RIPTA General Manager Alfred J. Moscola said. Ridership hit 47,002 last year, its highest, he said.

The ferry has, however, never been self-supporting. The adult fare this season will be $8 one-way, and $16 for a round trip. Meanwhile, the federal government is paying $575,000 per year, Moscola said, for a total of $5,175,000. The operating loss in 2007 was $107,000, according to preliminary RIPTA figures.

With the whole state budget under pressure and RIPTA’s buses full to the point that some passengers are being left behind, the state government isn’t likely to pick up the cost of running the ferry.

But even as it announced the ferry’s end, RIPTA hasn’t entirely given up on it.

Henry Kinch, RIPTA’s deputy general manager, said he expects that a legislation will be filed in the current General Assembly session to cause the state to assume the ferry’s cost, which he estimated at $450,000 per year.

"I hope that people see the value in it," and see the ferry as part of a range of transportation options that RIPTA should offer, he said.