End of the summer timetable: Amsterdam IJ ferries return to the regular schedule on 10 August 2026

The end of the summer timetable is the first piece of good news in weeks for anyone who crosses the IJ daily. According to GVB, the thinner summer schedule for the Amsterdam ferries runs from Saturday 4 July through Sunday 9 August 2026, which means the ferries return to the regular timetable from Monday 10 August. For commuters travelling between the city centre and Amsterdam Noord, that removes the wider intervals that made this summer so unpredictable. One exception remains: extra peak ferry F22 does not sail from 29 June through 16 August, so it comes back a week later than the rest. Below we set out what changes, what does not change yet, and why a full timetable in 2026 is unfortunately still no guarantee of a full fleet.

What changes for the IJ ferries on 10 August

From Monday 10 August the core IJ routes return to the regular sailing pattern GVB uses outside the holiday period. In practice that mainly means shorter intervals on the busy crossings from Centraal Station, where noticeably more time sat between departures during the summer weeks. The Buiksloterweg ferry and the NDSM wharf ferry are the two connections on which passengers feel that difference fastest, simply because that is where the most people want to cross at the same time. Anyone who in July had to reckon with a missed boat and a long wait on the pier at the NDSM wharf gets more margin back from 10 August. On the Buiksloterweg side, flow is generally smoother in the regular service too, because the boats follow each other more quickly. The difference sounds small on paper, but on a crossing of a few minutes the waiting time is by far the largest part of your journey.

Extra peak ferry F22 only returns after 16 August

Not everything snaps back to normal on 10 August, and that is a detail peak-hour travellers need to plan around. According to GVB, extra peak ferry F22 does not sail from 29 June through 16 August 2026 and therefore only re-enters service after that date. That extra capacity exists precisely for the busiest moments, so between 10 and 16 August a gap remains in the capacity offered during the morning peak. We described the start of this period earlier in our article on the summer 2026 timetable, which already announced the same F22 pause. For the week between the two end dates it means the regular ferries sail more often again, but the extra peak boat is still missing. If you cross early during that week, it is worth leaving a few minutes sooner than usual.

Buses, trams and metros follow a week later

It is notable that GVB uses a different end date for the ferries than for the rest of public transport, and that regularly causes confusion. The summer timetable for buses, trams and metros runs through Sunday 16 August 2026 — a full week longer than the ferry one. Passengers who combine their crossing with a tram from Centraal Station or a metro from Noord will therefore experience a combination of a full ferry service and a thinner rail connection between 10 and 16 August. For connections that matters: the ferry is no longer the weakest link in the chain, but the onward journey may well be. If you have an appointment to make that week, it pays to time the whole journey rather than just the crossing. On our news index we collect every report on timetable changes, so you can see this kind of mismatch coming sooner.

The skipper shortage remains the big caveat

A full planned timetable is unfortunately not the same as a full sailed timetable in 2026, and that caveat belongs with every report on the Amsterdam ferries. GVB is dealing with a stubborn skipper shortage of roughly 33 unfilled vacancies this year, while only six new skippers were hired in the first five months of 2026. That shortage already led to reduced service on the weekends of 13–14 June and 20–21 June, when all three Centraal Station lines ran less frequently. Around Amsterdam Pride, GVB also warned in late July that fewer ferries would sail, although after an extra call-out to staff the roster was largely filled after all; we covered that in our article on fewer ferries during Pride 2026. The background and scale of the problem sit in our piece on the skipper shortage, while the response — recruitment, internal transfers and a possible one-skipper model — is covered in the article on the GVB measures against the skipper shortage. As long as those vacancies stay open, GVB can cancel sailings even within a regular timetable.

What the end of the summer list means for crowding

The return to the regular timetable coincides with the moment the city itself fills up again, and that is no accident. Towards the end of August, pupils, students and commuters return, so demand for crossings between the centre and Noord climbs steeply in a short time. The IJ ferries carried roughly 29 million passengers in 2025 and that growth sits mainly in Noord, where housing construction continues unabated; more figures can be found in our ferry statistics. More planned sailings help absorb that peak, but the effect only becomes fully visible once F22 rejoins after 16 August. Historically the first week after the summer holidays is the busiest of the autumn on deck, a pattern we described earlier in our article on rush-hour crowding. So expect that a fuller timetable does not automatically mean emptier boats, but above all shorter waits between full ones.

How to plan your crossing during the transition weeks

The practical lesson of this transition is that three different regimes apply back to back between 9 and 17 August, which makes a quick check worth more than an assumption. Look at current departure times via the ferry hub or one of the ferry apps just before you leave, especially if you need to make a train or tram connection. If one pier is crowded, it almost always pays to walk or cycle on to a neighbouring crossing, exactly as GVB advised around Pride for the route from NDSM-werf to Buiksloterweg. Build in a small buffer during the first days after 10 August, because the new intervals take some getting used to and not every stop picks up the same rhythm at once. Frequent crossers can save their regular route in an app and see at a glance whether the next departure is actually running. That way you keep control of your journey time, even in a week when the ferries and the rest of public transport are not on the same schedule.

Pont is not an official GVB product. We summarise public reporting — in this case GVB's summer information and Schuttevaer's coverage of crewing on the IJ ferries — so you can quickly judge whether your crossing is changing. The dates and figures mentioned are a snapshot and may be revised by GVB and the city. When in doubt, always check GVB's current departure times and service information before you walk to the pier. That way you stay up to date on timetable changes, crewing shortages and possible cancellations on the Amsterdam ferries.