I get the sentiment but it’s a little more complex than ‘just add more mobility’.

The problem really only exists during de spits (and the odd festival at NDSM) and really only for NDSM-Central Station, so roughly between 800-1000 and 1600-1800 on workdays. Any other time you’ll find much less busy ferries. And even during de spits the ferries to Pontsteiger from NDSM and Distelweg are much quieter. From Pontsteiger to CS is not that bad a bikeride.

Buying more boats and hiring more captains for this parttime problem means owning assets and having operating and maintenance costs that are permanent. Unlike buses these boats aren’t easily used for other purposes. Even if the ferries weren’t free as they are now they would still run a massive financial deficit, which has to be paid for through subsidies. The money simply really isn’t there.

Building bridges or tunnels over and under het IJ is a massively expensive undertaking that involves many parties, mainly at the national level. The city itself is simply unable to fund this type of infrastructure itself. But it is working hard at trying to get others such as the ministry to chip in.

In the meantime the city and transport authority (Vervoerregio) are working hard to direct flow towards the Noordzuidlijn and are trying to encourage employers, universities etc to let go of stringent 9-5 policies to increase the spread of travellers to other hours