Steamship Authority Considers Increasing Rates on All Fares

By JAMES KINSELLA
Gazette Senior Writer

Steamship Authority managers plan to recommend across-the-board rate
increases of about five per cent for the coming year.

If approved by the Authority board of governors at their meeting
next month on the Vineyard, it will mark the second year in a row where
the cost of traveling on the boat line has gone up. Last year, the
standard passenger fare on the Vineyard route rose nine per cent. The
state-chartered boat line operates the only year-round passenger and
vehicle ferry service between the mainland and the two Islands.

SSA general manager Wayne Lamson said this week that rising fuel and
insurance costs are among the factors prompting boat line managers to
propose higher fares. Contributing to the need for more revenue on the
Vineyard route are anticipated higher costs related to the Island Home
car and passenger ferry, scheduled to enter service late this year. Mr.
Lamson estimates fuel and insurance costs for the Island Home will
outpace those for the Islander, the ferry that has plied the route for
the past 56 years.

Mr. Lamson will present a preliminary budget to SSA governors at
their monthly meeting, which begins at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday at the Hyannis
terminal. The board will vote on the final 2007 budget at its Oct. 26
meeting on the Vineyard.

In other developments, Mr. Lamson said the boat line's new
$31.5 million ferry, the Island Home, likely will debut on the Woods
Hole-Vineyard route slightly later than planned.

Mr. Lamson said VT Halter Marine, which is building the vessel in
Mississippi, had planned to deliver the Island Home by Nov. 28. The
Authority now anticipates the vessel will be delivered by the end of the
year.

The boat line has placed the Island Home on its official schedule
starting Jan. 3. If the new vessel still is not ready, Mr. Lamson said,
the veteran ferry Islander will continue on the route.

As for fare increases, Falmouth governor and board chairman Robert
Marshall called the prospect disappointing, but necessary.
"It's very uncomplicated. We know pretty much within a per
cent or two what it costs to run 12 months of the Authority. After the
fact, we know what the revenue is. Expenses are up and revenue is
off."

At present, the boat line on the Vineyard route charges a one-way
passenger fare of $6; a one-way children's and senior citizen fare
of $3; an off-season, round trip fare of $45 for ordinary cars and $65
for large cars; and a one-way summer passage of $62 for ordinary cars
and $72 for large cars.

Most non-commuter passenger fares also are subject to a 50-cent
embarkation fee. The measure effectively pushes the one-way adult fare
on the Vineyard route to $6.50.

Last year, boat line governors approved a $4 million rate increase
that took effect this year. Of that increase, $3.2 million was applied
to the Vineyard route and $800,000 was applied to the Nantucket route.
The move raised passenger and automobile fares on the Vineyard route
from nine to 15 per cent.