Crossings will run twice a day from the new pier from next summer.
A ferry link across the strait will restart next summer, twelve years after the last service ended, using the new pier built as part of the harbour plan.
Crossings will run twice a day, take about two hours and carry up to 120 cars. Fares have not yet been set.
Tourism businesses on both sides of the strait say the link could bring thousands of extra visitors a year.
Councillors voted 27 to 22 in favour after a six-hour debate, ending two years of argument over the future of the waterfront.
Two new cranes have cut the time a ship spends at the quay by almost a third.
All council-run buses would be free on Saturdays and Sundays, to bring shoppers back to the city centre.
The buses charge overnight at the Northgate depot, which now has its own solar roof.
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