diff --git a/style/ferry-routes.mss b/style/ferry-routes.mss
index 18748dd9b4..ff4e9bf706 100644
--- a/style/ferry-routes.mss
+++ b/style/ferry-routes.mss
@@ -1,16 +1,27 @@
 @ferry-route: #66f;
 @ferry-route-text: @ferry-route;
 
+// Overlapping dashed lines of ferry routes can look like a continues line
+// (see #457). To avoid this we draw a masking line behind the ferry routes.
+// That line is drawn with comp-op: dst-out, and with `gamma: 0` to prevent
+// aliasing issues.
+//
+// To limit the masking operation to just this layer, opacity or comp-op needs
+// to be set at the layer level. Sadly setting default values like `opacity: 1`
+// or `comp-op: scr-over` don't work. As a hack we set opacity to 0.99999.
+
 #ferry-routes {
+  opacity: 0.99999;
+
   [zoom >= 8] {
-    /* background prevents problems with overlapping ferry-routes, see #457 */
-    background/line-color: @water-color;
-    background/line-width: 1; /* Needs to be a bit wider than the route itself because of antialiasing */
+    mask/line-width: 0.4;
+    mask/line-comp-op: dst-out;
+    mask/line-gamma: 0;
     line-color: @ferry-route;
     line-width: 0.4;
     line-dasharray: 4,4;
     [zoom >= 11] {
-      background/line-width: 1;
+      mask/line-width: 0.8;
       line-width: 0.8;
       line-dasharray: 6,6;
     }