With ferry reservations increasingly hard to come by, the Steamship Authority has changed its policy for the resident-only standby line in hopes of making it easier for Islanders to travel to and from the Vineyard.

  The ferry line announced last week that it was changing the rules for the “blue line” standby on both sides of the Vineyard route, moving from a hard cap of 15 vehicles a day to a new rolling 12-vehicle cap.

  Jim Malkin, the Vineyard representative on the Steamship board, said the new policy was born out of concerns from Islanders who’ve had trouble getting their vehicles on the ferry, but have seen open spots on boats.

“This is a step in the right direction to open up more capacity,” he said.

The new policy, which took effect June 28, applies on reservation-only sailing days and is only available to preferred and excursion account holders with the Steamship Authority. Only Island residents are eligible for preferred and excursion accounts.

Vehicles entering the blue line go to the terminal with open tickets and will stage there while the Steamship monitors openings.

As more cars are able to board from the blue line, more cars will be able to get into the queue, said Sean Driscoll, a Steamship spokesperson.

“It sounds less but it’s really more,” Mr. Driscoll said. “It could be a lot more than [ the past cap] as the day progresses.”
Mr. Malkin also encouraged travelers to check the day of the sailing hotline, 508-477-SHIP (7447), which tracks openings on reservation-only days and is open for extended hours.

The blue line change comes as automobiles on the Vineyard route have climbed to historic highs in recent years. In 2021, the authority carried about 521,000 vehicles between the Island and Woods Hole, and nearly 511,000 last year.

Trucks also hit their peak, according to data going back to 1998, with more than 59,000 making the crossing in 2022.

For the first five months of 2023, the most recent numbers available, the Steamship Authority has carried 48,751 more passengers on the Vineyard route than in 2022, a 7.3 per cent increase.

From January to May 2023, the Steamship vehicle traffic was up 2.5 per cent on the Vineyard route, with excursion cars up 6.1 per cent.

Managing capacity in the busy summer months has long been a challenge for the Steamship Authority.

In decades past, the ferry line had guaranteed standby on the Vineyard route.

But it caused mayhem on busy days, leading to massive traffic jams and hours of extra ferry runs.

On Fourth of July weekend in 1995, a line of more than 600 vehicles filled the Woods Hole terminal and stretched up Woods Hole Road. The authority ran extra ferries starting at midnight, with some people waiting more than 14 hours to get to the Island.

There was a similar incident at the Vineyard Haven terminal the following July 4th, with standby peaking at 500 cars. The policy was eventually scrapped and went to a hard cap of 15 cars a day.

The blue line, which has been implemented for several years, is not for people trying to improve their sailing time, only for Islanders without a reservation, Mr. Driscoll said. It can also be shut down at the discretion of the authority, often when there are weather cancellations, causing subsequent ferries to fill up.