With most standby travel still on hold due to construction at the Woods Hole terminal, Steamship Authority officials have been considering a staging area outside the village for vehicles awaiting same-day space on Vineyard-bound ferries next year.

Two parking lots the ferry line owns in Falmouth have room for standby staging, but they each have drawbacks and both would require a significant amount of money.

A standby operation at the boat line’s Palmer avenue lot would cost about $250,000 to set up, requiring a booth, electrical power and communications equipment, according to director of shoreside operations Alison Fletcher. The Steamship’s Gifford street lot already has a ticket booth with power and thus would cost less to configure, she said, but there are drawbacks there as well.

“Both lots hold their own challenges,” Ms. Fletcher told the Steamship Authority board of governors and port council at their joint meeting in Hyannis Tuesday morning.

The Gifford street lot has a traffic signal at its entrance and more turning space for heavy trucks, but currently is in use by the terminal construction project as a “laydown area” for equipment and materials.

The Palmer avenue lot has more parking spaces and is closer to Woods Hole, but also has just one entrance for all motor vehicles other than the SSA shuttle buses.

“My fear with Palmer avenue is that there’ll be a lot of congestion and confusion with customers coming in and out, especially when they’re parking their cars, as opposed to staging their cars. And also, I’m afraid that we might have backup on Palmer avenue, which can cause its own issues in itself,” Ms. Fletcher said.

Staffing a standby lot in Falmouth also would require hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in payroll and employee benefits, she said.

The board had asked Ms. Fletcher to study the feasibility of establishing standby staging for the general public at the boat line’s passenger parking lots in Falmouth, to relieve traffic congestion in Woods Hole.

The SSA suspended its same-day travel policy on the Vineyard route for all but qualified locals in late 2024, but that news failed to make its way to countless motorists who drove straight to Woods Hole last year without making reservations first.

Turned away at the check-in booths, the cars clogged village streets and Woods Hole Road, causing widespread traffic congestion and raising the ire of Falmouth officials.

The boat line added staffers and hired uniformed police details to help manage the immediate traffic overflow, but the cars kept coming.

Establishing off-site standby lines would do more than help head off the congestion: It also would allow the Steamship Authority to capture some of the revenue it loses when cars turn around and leave Woods Hole without a ferry trip.

It takes three vehicles traveling at the Islander rate to equal the proceeds from a single standard-fare automobile, SSA treasurer Mark Rozum said Tuesday.

But faced with the up-front expense of configuring a Falmouth lot for standby and the ongoing cost of staffing the operation, Steamship Authority board members had little appetite for the project.

“Another $250,000 of expenses is not something that I can happily stomach, [and] if the new reservations system does 80 per cent of what we’re told it’s going to do, it will take care of a lot of this,” chair James Malkin said.

Both the reservations system and the Woods Hole terminal reconstruction project are scheduled for completion in 2026, general manager Robert Davis said.

The port council and board took no action on the parking lot standby plan, but asked Mr. Rozum and Ms. Fletcher to return next month with a more detailed analysis of standby service costs.

Tuesday’s joint meeting of the Steamship Authority board and its advisory port council, held at the DoubleTree by Hilton Cape Cod in Hyannis, marked Mr. Davis’s last public appearance as the boat line’s general manager.

After eight years at the helm and nearly 40 years with the Steamship Authority, Mr. Davis is shifting to an advisory position when newly-hired general manager Alex Kryska, who also attended the Hyannis meeting, starts work next month.

Mr. Davis agreed more than a year ago to step down as GM, following mounting criticism from the traveling public about his handling of ferry breakdowns, staffing shortages and computer blackouts.

Unwilling to lose the benefit of his long experience when a Steamship Authority newcomer takes over, the board of governors created the advisory position for Mr. Davis, with no reduction in salary.

“The entire company and its ridership are lucky that you’ll continue your four decades of service as a senior advisor to the board as we make this transition,” chair James Malkin, who represents the Vineyard, said as Tuesday’s meeting began.

Robert Ranney of Nantucket, who succeeded his father Flint Ranney on the SSA board, also had warm words for Mr. Davis.

“The Steamship Authority would not be in as excellent shape as it is today if it wasn’t for Mr. Davis. His dedication … is outstanding. Unparalleled,” Mr. Ranney said.

Mr. Malkin also read aloud two legislative proclamations in Mr. Davis’s honor, one from the Massachusetts House of Representatives and the other from the state Senate,

Mr. Davis waited until the rest of the joint agenda was completed before speaking on his own behalf.

Since taking his job in 2017, Mr. Davis said, he has overseen numerous improvements at the boat line including the first strategic planning initiative, a safety and quality management system, a training and development program, electric buses and the contract for a solar charging project, the purchase and conversion of three ferries and the Woods Hole terminal reconstruction project.

After noting the milestones of his tenure — most of which stemmed from a 2018 operations study known as the HMS report — Mr. Davis fought tears as he thanked the Steamship Authority board, staff, port council and public.

“Last but not least, I’d like to thank my family for supporting me and being understanding for all the time commitments this requires,” he said, his voice roughening with emotion.

A brief silence followed Mr. Davis’s words as the board, port council and staff rose to their feet in a wordless tribute.

Also Tuesday, the board approved a new three-year contract with Hyannis Harbor Cruises, doing business as the Hy-Line, for passenger service to the Vineyard and Nantucket.

The board also gave its approval for the Hy-Line to design and build a new high-speed catamaran to update its aging fleet of ferries, which company president Murray Scudder said have been increasingly prone to breakdowns.