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A Steamship Authority shuttle bus. The buses run between the Falmouth lots and the Woods Hole terminal, free, and the terminal itself has no public parking.
Parking for the Woods Hole ferry: there is none at the terminal, so here are the three Steamship Authority lots (Palmer Avenue, Thomas B. Landers, Cataumet), the 2026 rates ($25 a day April to October, $20 otherwise), the free shuttle timed to every sailing, when to arrive, the annual and off-season permits, the drop-off rule and the cheaper Island Queen lot in Falmouth Harbor.
There is no public parking at the Woods Hole ferry terminal. That sentence answers most of the questions people send us in July, and the rest follow from it: the Steamship Authority parks its walk-on passengers in three lots in Falmouth and Cataumet, charges $20 to $25 a day by the calendar day, and runs free shuttles to the boat that are timed to the sailings. Most days it is easy: park, ride ten minutes, board. On a summer Saturday with the boat in forty minutes it can get tense. Below: where the lots are, what they cost in 2026, how the shuttle works, when to arrive, and the cheaper alternative four miles away in Falmouth Harbor.
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Coming down Route 28 from the Bourne Bridge, the electronic signs before Falmouth tell you which lot is open; on a normal day it is Palmer Avenue, and you turn in, take a ticket, park and walk to the shuttle shelter. The bus is free, takes about ten minutes to the terminal, and there is one leaving 15 minutes before every sailing, so if you are on the shuttle a quarter of an hour before the boat you have made it. Walk-on passengers never need a reservation: buy the $11 ticket in the app on the shuttle and scan it at the gate. Pay for the parking when you come back, by the calendar days you were away. On July and August weekends Palmer Avenue fills by mid-morning and the signs send you on to Thomas B. Landers and then Cataumet, each a longer shuttle ride, which is why the Authority says an hour and why we say more on a Saturday.
A Steamship Authority car ferry out on the Sound. If your car is on the boat, the satellite lots and shuttles are not part of your day.
If your car is crossing, none of this applies: you drive to the terminal with your reservation, join the staging lanes on the pier at least 30 minutes before departure (an hour in summer), and the lots don’t matter. The hard part is the reservation: summer weekends sell out the morning the window opens in February, and our reservation guide covers how to get one. The new terminal building, opened June 25, 2026, has proper restrooms, waiting room and ticket windows for the wait.
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Four miles from Woods Hole, its own lots 200 yards from its dock at $20 a day cash, a 35-minute boat to Oak Bluffs for $30 round trip, May 22 to October 12. No shuttle at all. The Island Queen guide has the timetable.
Peter Pan runs from South Station and Logan straight to the Woods Hole pier, $24 to $40 one way, about an hour and three-quarters, and the parking question disappears. The Boston routes guide has the times.
A friend or a taxi can drop you at the terminal; there is just no parking there. The day-trip guide works a Boston day around the early boats.
From November 1 the lots are $20 a day, Palmer Avenue rarely fills, and the free shuttle keeps running to the boat. The winter timetable runs about every 75 minutes.
Anyone coming more than 38 days a year at $25 is better off with the $950 annual permit; a September-to-December visitor with a dozen trips, with the $350 off-season one.
The wake off the stern on the crossing. Forty-five minutes after the shuttle, the parked car is far behind you.
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Not at the terminal, which has no public parking. The Steamship Authority’s lots are at 286 Palmer Avenue in Falmouth, 22 Technology Park Drive in East Falmouth (Thomas B. Landers) and Route 28A in Cataumet, all with free shuttles to the boat. Electronic signs on Route 28 say which is open.
$25 a day from April 1 to October 31 and $20 a day the rest of the year, at all three lots, charged by calendar day or part of one. Annual permits are $950.
From Palmer Avenue every 15 to 20 minutes, with a bus guaranteed to leave 15 minutes before every scheduled ferry departure. The ride is about ten minutes. Allow an hour before the boat in summer, more on a weekend.
Yes. A friend or a taxi can drop you at the terminal, and the Peter Pan bus runs there too; there is just no parking.
The Island Queen in Falmouth Harbor parks for $20 a day cash within 200 yards of its own dock and needs no shuttle, with a $30 round trip to Oak Bluffs from late May to Columbus Day.
Lot addresses, 2026 daily rates, permit prices, the arrival advice and the phone lines are from the Steamship Authority’s parking pages and 2026 permit applications; the Palmer Avenue shuttle frequency and the guaranteed pre-departure bus are from the Authority’s ways-to-save page; the new terminal date is from the Authority’s opening announcement; Island Queen and Peter Pan figures are the operators’ published 2026 rates. Read in September 2026. Lot-opening patterns on summer weekends are our observation, not a published schedule.
Island tip of the day Shopping No. 31 of 86 New tip at midnight, island time
The Chappy Ferry costs $5/person round-trip and $17 for a car with driver. Cards work at the Edgartown-side kiosk; bring cash for the boat itself.
The twelve things that catch first-timers on Martha's Vineyard, from car reservations and the two ferry terminals to resident-only beaches, the last bus from Aquinnah and cash for the Chappy Ferry, each with an easy fix, plus the fall and winter dates.
Cell service on Martha's Vineyard town by town: towers down-island, no tower in Chilmark or Aquinnah and the named dead spots, what each carrier reports to the FCC, free Wi-Fi at all six libraries and on the ferry, the $10 xfinitywifi pass, prepaid plans and 911 when you have no bars.
EV charging on Martha's Vineyard: about 34 public stations, nearly all Level 2, listed town by town with ports and prices (the Edgartown Park and Ride, town halls, libraries, the airport, the Aquinnah cliffs), two fast-charging ports at the VTA, the Chilmark plans, no Supercharger, the ferry's EV rules, and how to run an electric week on a 20-mile island.
How to get a Steamship Authority car reservation to Martha's Vineyard: the February opening and its virtual waiting room, the residents' head start, the five-reservation limit, the wait list that works, the 2026 fares ($127 midweek, $168 summer weekends), the free first change and the 14-day refund rule, no standby, and why most visitors should leave the car in Falmouth.
Every public restroom we know of on Martha's Vineyard, town by town: the two ferry terminals (open year-round), Kennebec Avenue in Oak Bluffs, Church Street in Edgartown, the Stop and Shop lot in Vineyard Haven, West Tisbury Town Hall, the Menemsha beach lot and the Aquinnah cliffs, which beaches have them (not State Beach), what is seasonal, and the fallbacks that work in winter.
Providence and Rhode Island to Martha's Vineyard without crossing Cape Cod: the Seastreak from New Bedford (50 minutes, $84 round trip, 30 minutes from Providence) and the Vineyard Fast Ferry from Quonset Point (95 to 105 minutes, from $115, dogs ride free), both with $15 parking at the dock, plus Amtrak's connecting bus for a car-free trip. Which boat, when, and what it costs.
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