By the late 1800s, the number of steamers calling at Rothesay had increased to the point where its steamer pier was second busiest on the Clyde, with only Greenock seeing more traffic. Residents of Glasgow could reach Rothesay in around an hour by rail and steamer, and one result was a dramatic increase in the number of hotels and boarding houses. Once the increasingly mass-market trippers had reached Rothesay, they could progress to Port Bannatyne and from there across the island to Ettrick Bay by tram. The peak year for steamer traffic was 1913, and during the Summer of that year anything up to 100 steamers each day called at Rothesay.