Boats

The Ferry Terminal already comes equipped with one Passenger Ferry Dock, but no activity will occur at this dock until another Ferry Terminal is active in the city or region.

Boats take regional transportation to the next level, allowing massive ferries and cruise ships to dock at your city. Ferries are ideal for moving large volumes of workers between cities in the region connected by the same waterway.

With the addition of a Cruise Ship Dock at a Ferry Terminal, medium and high wealth tourists will flood into your city looking for places to spend their Simoleons. But before plopping a Ferry Terminal, put some thought into how you want to develop the waterfront, as space is usually limited.

Will the waterfront be used strictly for industrial imports and exports through a Trade Port equipped with a Cargo Ship Dock? Maybe you just want to use it as a commuter transportation hub, ferrying workers between cities? Or will the waterfront be a commercial center with numerous shops and attractions to lure medium and high wealth tourists arriving by cruise ships?

Whatever your decision, making the most of your waterfront will take a lot of money, so consider leaving these areas undeveloped until you can properly invest in the infrastructure. By that time you’ll have a better idea of how the waterfront should be utilized.

Ferry Terminal

• Cost: 31,000
• Operational Cost: 575 per hour
• Ferry Capacity: 1,000 Sims
• Prerequisites:
• City Hall in region
• Department of Transportation in region
• Description: When placed along a shoreline, the Ferry Terminal provides a dock for commuters to travel by passenger ferry. Improve it by adding Cruise Ship Docks or additional Passenger Ferry Docks.

Is your city nestled along a picturesque shoreline or river? Then consider making use of that waterway to transport commuters and attract tourists by plopping a Ferry Terminal. The Ferry Terminal’s location is restricted by your access to a natural waterfront.

Place it directly on a waterfront location of your choice, then connect the terminal to your road network. Like the Passenger Train Station, the terminal has two road connections running directly in front of the facility. Connect both ends of the road to offer easy access to the terminal’s parking lot.

Initially the Ferry Terminal comes with one Passenger Ferry Dock, but can be expanded with one extra dock, including a Cruise Ship Dock—each terminal supports a maximum of two docks. If intending to use the Ferry Terminal as a hub for commuters, make sure a neighboring city also has a Ferry Terminal, otherwise the Passenger Ferry Dock will go unused.

But if you’re the only city in the region with a Ferry Terminal, you can still make use the of Cruise Ship Dock module. This allows medium and high wealth tourists to enter your city. Just make sure there’s plenty for these picky tourists to do once they reach your city—zone high-end commercial around the Ferry Terminal and consider plopping a casino or landmark to boost the city’s attraction rating.

But don’t expect all visitors to stay near the terminal. Place Bus and Streetcar Stops nearby to give visiting Sims a way to get around your city. These stops are also helpful for local Sims who want to reach the terminal without using a car.

Modules

Ferry Terminal Sign

• Cost: 200
• Operational Cost: None
• Maximum Modules: 1
• Description: Caution: Very large boats.

Passenger Ferry Dock

• Cost: 6,000
• Operational Cost: 200 per hour
• Ferry Capacity: 1,000 Sims
• Maximum Modules: 2
• Description: Dock for a passenger ferry to bring low and medium wealth workers from other cities in the region connected by water.

Cruise Ship Dock

• Cost: 10,000
• Operational Cost: 375 per hour
• Ferry Capacity: 2,000 Sims
• Maximum Modules: 2
• Description: Anyone for a game of shuffleboard? Allows cruise ships to dock, bringing medium and high wealth tourists in from the region.