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The KittyCat: Brisbane's 50¢ Cross-River Ferry
The closest thing Brisbane has to a free river cruise.
16 June 2026 · 5 min read
The KittyCats are Brisbane's little cross-river ferries: the small boats that dart straight across the water instead of running up and down it. A trip costs the flat 50 cents, the same as any fare on the network, which makes it about the cheapest front-row view of the city you can buy. For half a coin you get a shortcut across the river and a skyline view in one.
Below is how the service works, where it can drop you, what is worth getting off for, and how often it runs. The trip planner has live times for your exact crossing.
What the KittyCat is
A fleet of five KittyCats runs Brisbane's four Cross River routes, crossing straight over the water rather than running up and down it like the bigger blue CityCats. When the inner-city ferry network was reconfigured in January 2025, these cross-river routes were set up to run more often, at least every 15 minutes through the day.
Every fare on the network is a flat 50 cents (see our 50¢ fares explainer), so a KittyCat hop costs the same fifty cents as any other trip. Tap your go card, phone or card and across you go. There is no separate ferry fare to think about.
A 50¢ mini-cruise
The KittyCat is not only a way to cross the river. It is also the cheapest river experience in the city. Take a seat on the open deck, glide past the Story Bridge, the Kangaroo Point cliffs and the CBD skyline, and you have had a small river cruise for fifty cents. Ride there and back and it is still only a dollar.
It also saves the long way round. Two places that face each other across the water, say Kangaroo Point and the CBD, can be a 25-minute walk via the nearest bridge or a quick hop straight across on the ferry. The ferry usually wins.
The four routes and what's at each end
There are four Cross River routes, each linking two of Brisbane's best riverside pockets:
- F21 Bulimba ↔ Teneriffe: Oxford Street's cafes and restaurants on one side, Gasworks and the James Street precinct on the other.
- F22 Sydney Street ↔ Dockside: New Farm Park and the Brisbane Powerhouse across to Kangaroo Point.
- F23 Riverside ↔ Holman Street: Eagle Street dining and Howard Smith Wharves across to the Kangaroo Point cliffs and the new pedestrian bridge.
- F24 QUT Gardens Point ↔ Maritime Museum: the City Botanic Gardens and QUT across to South Bank, Streets Beach and GOMA.
How often it runs
The Cross River KittyCats run a regular all-day service, roughly every 15 minutes on the inner-city routes, from early morning until around midnight, seven days a week. They run often enough that you rarely need to plan around a timetable.
The trip planner shows live times so you can see when the next one is pulling in, and join the ferry up with a bus or train if your trip needs it.
KittyCat or CityCat?
For the full-length version of the cruise, that is the CityCat: the big blue catamarans that run the long scenic route from the University of Queensland at St Lucia down to Northshore Hamilton, across 22 terminals. The KittyCats are the short cross-river hops.
It is all the same 50¢ fare and the same go card, so mix and match: a CityCat down the river, a KittyCat back across. The flat fare does have limits, and our guide to where the 50¢ fare stops covers the edges of the network.
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Is the KittyCat ferry free?
No. Like every trip on the network it is a flat 50 cents. That is about as cheap as a river crossing gets, but it is not free.
What's the difference between a KittyCat and a CityCat?
CityCats are the big blue catamarans that run the long route up and down the river, from UQ St Lucia to Northshore Hamilton across 22 terminals. KittyCats are the smaller ferries that cross straight over the river on the four Cross River routes.
How often do the KittyCats run?
Roughly every 15 minutes across the day on the inner-city Cross River routes, from early morning until around midnight, seven days a week. Check the trip planner for live times.
How much does the KittyCat cost?
Fifty cents flat, the same as any trip on the network. Tap your go card, phone or card on and off.
What can I see or reach from the KittyCat?
Plenty: the Kangaroo Point cliffs and the new pedestrian bridge, New Farm Park and the Powerhouse, Eagle Street dining and Howard Smith Wharves, South Bank, Streets Beach and GOMA, and the Bulimba and Teneriffe cafe strips, all a short hop apart.
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