Steamship Authority governors this week approved an operating budget for the coming year that includes slight fare increases for automobiles to and from the Vineyard.
Meeting Tuesday in Woods Hole, the board approved a budget with operating expenses of more than $83 million, a 4.1 per cent increase over estimated total operating costs for 2012.
Steamship Authority governors this week announced plans for fare increases on the Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket routes in order to compensate for rising fuel costs and other expenses in next year’s budget.
At the monthly meeting of the boat line governors Tuesday in Nantucket, a preliminary look at next year’s operating budget showed a budget shortfall of $1.5 million, according to a meeting summary.
As the Island starts to transition from summer crowds to autumn quiet, the Steamship Authority is reporting that traffic was up compared with last year.
“The summer was good; the traffic has been good,” Steamship Authority general manager Wayne Lamson told the Gazette this week.
June passenger traffic to the Vineyard was up by 4.7 per cent; July passenger traffic saw a decrease of 1.9 per cent; and August traffic was up by 7.2 per cent compared with 2011, according to Steamship Authority data. Passenger traffic is up 4.6 per cent for the year to date.
Overall traffic on Steamship Authority ferries is either flat or down slightly for the year, but in fact peak-season summer traffic on ferries to the Vineyard - both passenger and automobile traffic - has been healthy.
Also, the patchwork of parking lots in Falmouth and Bourne that are used to service boat line ferries to the Vineyard were never completely filled this summer, raising some question about the recent statements by the boat line general manager about the need to shift passenger traffic to New Bedford.
Steamship Authority governors will be asked this morning to consider
a mid-season fare hike, as the boat line faces escalating costs from
legal bills, rising debt and projected operating losses on the new ferry
run between New Bedford and the Vineyard this summer.
The proposed fare hike is set for discussion only; no vote is
planned until next month. If it is approved, passenger fares and the
popular auto excursion fares for Island residents will all go up.
The governor's ferry task force that recently staged a
four-month crash course on the Steamship Authority has now opened the
door for a major overhaul of the public boat line that has served the
two Islands for 41 years.
Amid a long list of caveats about assumptions and the need for more data, Steamship Authority treasurer Wayne Lamson told the boat line board of governors yesterday that he is in the neutral zone when it comes to the financial impacts of the new service model for future ferry operations to the two Islands.
"I feel that we should continue to explore the viability of the service model. But a lot more information needs to be gathered, and certain assumptions need to be validated," Mr. Lamson said at the monthly boat line meeting in Woods Hole yesterday.
There are no ripples or wake anymore, but the impact of no Schamonchi and no fast ferry from New London, Conn., has hit some businesses in Tisbury hard, especially along Beach Road where the ferries used to dock and disgorge tourists by the hundreds.
NANTUCKET - - The people of Nantucket had their crack at the
podium this week, turning out more than 150 strong to urge a special
governor's ferry task force to protect the Steamship Authority and
their lifeline.
"The rate-payers of the Islands are not responsible for
reviving the economy of New Bedford. Folks, the Steamship Authority is
not an entitlement program," declared Steve Tornovish, a member of
the SSA financial advisory board from Nantucket.
Cape and Islands state Rep. Eric T. Turkington was in no mood to mince words Tuesday at a committee hearing on Beacon Hill as he openly challenged both the author and the findings of the special governor's task force report calling for an overhaul of the Steamship Authority board of governors.
