NY Waterway vs Stevens Shuttle
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
NY Waterway
Purchase ferry tickets paper-free and use your phone as your boarding pass. Securely store personal information and payment details for convenient travel across New York Harbor. Access route maps, schedules, and advisories for a seamless journey.
- Paper-free ticket purchasing
- Phone as ticket
- Secure encrypted transactions
- Route maps
- Schedules
- Advisories
- Bus locator
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Your Phone Is Your Ticket. This app allows users to purchase NY Waterway tickets paper-free from any location and use their phone as a ticket. All personal information and payments are transmitted encrypted and stored securely. NY Waterway has the largest ferry and excursion fleet in the New York Harbor. Since it's launch in 1986, it has served over 65 million passengers. With routes stretching along both the Hudson and East Rivers and a complimentary bus service, NY Waterway is an easy and comfortable way to travel to and from Manhattan. Features: - Secure ticket purchasing - Your phone is your ticket - Route maps - Schedules - Advisories - Bus Locator
Stevens Shuttle
This app provides an on-demand shuttle service for safe and convenient travel around campus and within Hoboken, especially at night. Book rides easily through the app and share your journey with other users.
- On-demand shuttle booking
- Campus and city travel
- Safe night rides
- Shared rides
- Free service
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Stevens Shuttle makes your daily commute easy and helps you travel safely at night. How it works: - Book a ride to or from campus. - Get picked up by a Stevens shuttle. - Share your ride with other people getting around campus. - Get where you need to go any day of the week — completely free. More about us: SAFE. Stevens Shuttle serves rides between campus and anywhere in Hoboken at night. We are the safe alternative to walking alone at night. FREE. Stevens Shuttle has you covered. This service is completely free, making your commute more affordable. EASY. All you have to do to ride with Stevens Shuttle is download the app, sign up, and book your ride. Questions? Reach out to stevens-riders@ridewithvia.com.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is monetization model: NY Waterway at free against Stevens Shuttle's free with in-app purchases. NY Waterway also leads on ratings volume (11K vs 346). Stevens Shuttle's advantage is review sentiment (31% vs 16%) and update cadence (every 6 weeks vs every 3 months). On price, rating, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for NY Waterway against 4.8 for Stevens Shuttle. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: NY Waterway has 11K ratings behind it against 346, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 16% of NY Waterway's written reviews are positive against 31% of Stevens Shuttle's.
NY Waterway ships an update every 3 months, Stevens Shuttle every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 11, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | NY Waterway | Stevens Shuttle |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (11K ratings) — better | 4.8 (346 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 16.2% of reviews | 30.8% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 11K — better | 346 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Every 6 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 103 MB | 129 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Bytemark, Inc. | Via Transportation, Inc. |
Customer experience
NY Waterway
Stevens Shuttle
User reviews
NY Waterway
From 11K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Easy to use
- 🚀 Convenient ticket purchase
- 👍 Friendly ferry crew
Room to improve
- 🐛 Frequent log-outs
- 🐛 Unreliable ticket activation
- 🐛 Inconsistent bus locator
- 🐛 Buggy app updates
- 🔒 Security issues with account access
Stevens Shuttle
From 346 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- ✨ Enthusiastic and knowledgeable driver (Omar)
- ✨ Magnificent and elevated travel experience (J.H. Cromwell)
- 👍 App is great overall (sbawa2)
Room to improve
- 😞 Never accurate pickup times
- 😞 Shuttle arrives early and leaves
- 😞 No way to arrive on time
- 😞 Shuttle system is frustrating
- 😞 Limited pickup spots
Bugs and requests
NY Waterway
Reported bugs
4 issues- Frequent app crashes
- Inability to log in or access tickets
- Tickets disappearing from user accounts
- Compatibility issues with newer devices
Requested features
5 requests- Live ferry tracking
- Improved bus locator
- Seamless multi-ticket management
- Support for Apple Pay and other digital wallets
- Better user account management
Stevens Shuttle
Reported bugs
8 issues- Pickup times are inaccurate
- Notifications are misleading
- Shuttles cancel without notice
- Call feature is non-functional
- Password reset texts do not arrive
Show 3 moreShow fewer
- Support link is broken
- App glitches when shuttle moves on map
- SMS updates are not being received
Requested features
8 requests- Improve pickup time accuracy
- Expand pickup locations
- Ensure shuttle operates until advertised closing time
- Fix call feature
- Improve driver training/address driver issues
Show 3 moreShow fewer
- Fix SMS notification issues
- Fix password reset text delivery
- Fix app map glitches
In-app purchases
NY Waterway
No in-app purchases
Stevens Shuttle
No in-app purchases
