With ridership cratering on the Vineyard route and financial losses looming, Steamship Authority general manager Robert Davis announced Wednesday that the reduced ferry schedule will remain in effect through May 5. And he said future reductions in service to the Vineyard are under consideration, as the coronavirus pandemic continues.

The announcement came at a port council meeting held via conference call on Wednesday morning. The council is an advisory board for the boat line and includes members from the two Islands, Woods Hole, Falmouth, Barnstable and New Bedford.

New sign greets cars coming off the ferry in Vineyard Haven.

Mark Alan Lovewell

New sign greets cars coming off the ferry in Vineyard Haven.

Mark Alan Lovewell

At the meeting, Mr. Davis said the second half of March had seen an enormous drop in ferry traffic compared with the same time period last year.

While Mr. Davis has previously reported that by March 14, ridership numbers were on par with 2019 — with a slight increase in non-excursion vehicles making up for a slight decrease in other passengers — he said at the meeting Wednesday that those numbers have since plunged across the board.

By March 21, traffic was down 11,000 passengers from 2019 totals for the month. By March 29, it was down 37,000 passengers, Mr. Davis said. That means in the past week alone the SSA has seen a decrease of 26,000 passengers. For the year, Mr. David predicted numbers would show a 45,000-passenger drop overall once final tallies are done for March. He said car traffic had dropped “considerably” as well.

Mr. Davis expects the decrease in ridership to translate to $1.5 million in lost revenue to date over last year. With a stay-at-home order in effect until at least May 4, he expects to see a $5 to $6 million loss by the end of April.

“Once you start going into the summertime, there’ll be a lingering effect there,” Mr. Davis told port council members.

He said the expected losses are buffered by the fact that until mid-March the boat line was having a good year, with strong ridership and lower fuel costs. Currently the SSA has about two months of cash on hand, Mr. Davis said.

At their meeting last month governors gave Mr. Davis broad authority to make schedule changes in light of the unfolding pandemic. On Wednesday he said he plans to ask their blessing to extend the current schedule reductions for another month, and said he is considering running only one boat on its Vineyard route during the weekend.

“We’ve had to institute schedule changes on both routes,” Mr. Davis said. “Passenger numbers and vehicle numbers on weekends are down so much that we are considering whether we should be running a one-boat route on the weekends.”

At this time of year the SSA normally runs two boats between Woods Hole and Vineyard Haven on weekends. Running one boat would most likely cut the number of trips in half, Mr. Davis said.

He also said he is considering replacing one of the larger ferries on the Vineyard route with a freight vessel, although he had concerns about providing adequate space for social distancing on a smaller boat.

The general manager has also been authorized to explore a possible line of credit up to $10 million. At the meeting Wednesday, treasurer Mark Rozum said he had been talking with banks and expected paperwork to be complete sometime in the upcoming week. The line of credit would still be subject to a final signoff by the board of governors. Mr. Rozum and Mr. Davis said they did not yet have plans to use it.

“This is something to add to our toolbox if we need to use it,” Mr. Davis said.

Mr. Davis and others said they remained committed to providing service to the Islands through the pandemic. They said the priorities were getting food, fuel and medicine to the Islands, regardless of the financial impact.

“I know these are incredibly stressful times for everyone, but we are going to do everything possible to provide the service the Island’s depend upon,” Mr. Davis said.