Year-round schedule (NCDOT 2026 Ferry System Schedule, updated Nov. 10, 2025) applies Jan. 1-Dec. 31, 2026. Checked against NCDOT's live schedule tool and Current Conditions board on Sept. 18, 2026: Normal Operations, no active alert.
Departures 1–10 / 10
Departures 1–10 / 10
Crossing time
~30 min
Operator
NCDOT Ferry Division
Map – Bayview-Aurora Ferry
| Fare type | Price |
|---|---|
| All passengers and vehicles, one way | Free |
Passage is free today for people, cars and trucks alike; a 2026 state mandate requires NCDOT to add tolls system-wide, this crossing included, starting Jan. 1, 2027, though no fare for Bayview-Aurora had been set as of this research.
Bayview and Aurora sit on opposite banks of the Pamlico River in rural Beaufort County, and the free vehicle ferry between them is less a tourist crossing than a shift-change shuttle. Aurora is built around one of the largest phosphate mines in the world, worked today by Nutrien, and much of the plant's workforce lives across the water in Bayview and the farming country around it. NCDOT opened the run in 1966 for exactly that reason: to spare mine and farm workers a long overland loop through Washington, NC, just to reach a job or a field a few hundred yards away by water.
What sets this crossing apart from NCDOT's other free river ferries is that the two directions genuinely don't match. Boats leave Bayview seven times a day starting at 5:45 a.m., with sailings roughly on the half hour and quarter hour through the morning, then again from 2 p.m. to 5:40 p.m. Aurora's first departure isn't until 6:30 a.m., three-quarters of an hour later, and its last boat back to Bayview runs at 6:15 p.m., after Bayview's own last sailing of the day. That gap matters if you're timing a work shift: an early Bayview boat gets a mine worker to Aurora well before the first return sailing even runs, and the mismatched evening times mean the trip back isn't a simple mirror of the morning one.
The crossing itself is short, a little over three miles and about half an hour dock to dock, with no booking system on either side; vehicles and foot passengers just line up and load in the order they arrive. Farm equipment, feed trucks and mine-shift traffic share the boat with the occasional visitor headed to Beaufort County's fossil-hunting spots nearby. Like North Carolina's other state-run ferries, this one runs on an annual NCDOT schedule and incident board, and a legislative mandate will put a toll on it for the first time on Jan. 1, 2027.
- Arrive at the terminal several minutes before departure; vehicle lanes close earlier than the foot-passenger gate.
- Check the operator's service alerts before you set out — weather, tides and vessel maintenance change sailings.
- Confirm accepted payment methods: some crossings are card-only and some take cash only.
Frequently asked questions
Nothing, for now — every passenger and vehicle rides free. A 2026 state law requires NCDOT to start collecting a toll on this crossing from Jan. 1, 2027, but the exact price hadn't been announced as of this research.
About 30 minutes dock to dock, covering a little over three miles of the Pamlico River.
No, and that's the one thing to know before you plan around it. Bayview's first boat leaves at 5:45 a.m., 45 minutes ahead of Aurora's first departure at 6:30 a.m., and the evening times don't line up either — check the direction you actually need instead of assuming it mirrors the other side.
Seven sailings each way: from Bayview at 5:45, 7:15 and 8:45 a.m., 11 a.m., 2 and 3:30 p.m., and 5:40 p.m.; from Aurora at 6:30, 8 and 10:15 a.m., 11:45 a.m., 2:45, 5 and 6:15 p.m.
No — NCDOT keeps the same set of departures listed here running all 12 months of 2026, without a separate summer timetable.
There's no booking for this crossing. Cars and walk-on riders load in the order they show up, the same way NCDOT runs most of its free river routes.
NCDOT built it in 1966 to link Aurora's phosphate-mine and farm workers on the south bank with their homes in Bayview and the surrounding country on the north bank, cutting out a long drive around through Washington, NC.
Cars, pickups, farm trailers, motorcycles, bikes and walk-on riders all travel on the same boat — anything road-legal that fits, the way it works on NCDOT's other free crossings.