Boatline Governors See Proposed Fare Increases Across Board Next Year

By James Kinsella
Gazette Senior Writer

HYANNIS - Islanders and summer visitors alike will pay more to travel on Steamship Authority ferries next year.

The only question now is how the rate increase will be divided up among passenger, car and truck fares.

At the monthly Steamship Authority meeting in Hyannis yesterday, general manager Wayne Lamson and treasurer Robert Davis proposed across the board rate increases to close the gap in a $72.1 million operating budget for 2006.

Mr. Lamson and Mr. Davis proposed hiking one-way passenger fares from $5.50 to $6 on the Vineyard route, and from $13.50 to $14 on the Nantucket route. The boat line has not increased passenger fares since 2001.

Because all the port communities on SSA routes have adopted the embarkation fee of 50 cents, the proposed fare increases would in fact push the round-trip passenger fare to $13 on the Vineyard route and $29 on the Nantucket route.

Boat line officials also want to raise car and truck rates, including the closely guarded discount excursion fares for year-round Islanders.

If the changes proposed by management yesterday are approved, for vehicles under 17 feet in length, the round-trip excursion rate on the Vineyard route will go up from $39 to $44 in the off-season, and from $65 to $70 in the summer months.

The same vehicles on the Nantucket route will see the round-trip excursion rate rise from $115 to $119 in the off-season, and from $175 to $180 in the summer.

Rates are also expected to go up for cars that do not qualify for excursion fares.

Commercial vehicles under 20 feet in length would see their rates rise the same as cars. Commercial vehicles 20 feet and over would see their rates rise eight per cent on the Vineyard route and three per cent on the Nantucket route.

The proposed fare increases would generate $3,185,000 on the Vineyard route and $810,000 on the Nantucket route.

Boat line governors yesterday did not question the size of the proposed operating budget, up about five per cent in both revenues and expenses from the current budget, and they appeared resigned to the proposed fare increases.

But Falmouth governor Robert Marshall and New Bedford governor David Oliveira both called for a careful examination of how the rate increases are allocated.

Mr. Marshall asked the staff to analyze revenues and expenses for each kind of traffic on each route. He said the board might want to shift the relative burden from one sector to another.

"I just want to make certain we're as fair as we possibly can be," Mr. Marshall said.

Mr. Oliveira said passenger rates, which appear to run about 10 per cent of vehicle rates, might be below market.

Mr. Lamson said the boat line staff bases its judgment on passenger rates in part by keeping an eye what private carriers in the market are charging, such as the Island Queen and the Hy-Line.

SSA board members also briefly mulled further refinements in pricing, such as charging premiums for peak-period trips, such as a Friday in July. "I'd like to look at that," said Vineyard governor and board chairman Marc Hanover.

Mr. Oliveira also brought up the idea of holding down fare increases by turning to merchandising for revenue, an idea advocated repeatedly in the past by the late Nantucket governor Grace Grossman.

The draft operating budget for the coming year projects $67.3 million in expenses, up about $3.8 million from this year's budget.

Anticipated fuel cost increases account for $2 million of the higher expenses, with another $800,000 from estimated increases in medical costs.

The proposed budget increase comes in the wake of several years of flattening ridership on boat line ferries. SSA managers estimate that 2.6 million passengers will ride the boat line ferries this year, down from 3 million in 2002. They also estimate that automobile traffic will fall to 468,885 this year, down from about 500,000 in 2002.

Only truck traffic is rising, from 107,497 in 2002 to an estimated 124,604 this year - although the boat line also changed the way it counts trucks this year and now includes pickup trucks in the total.

Mr. Davis projects that the boat line will come in about $1.3 million under budget this year on the revenue side.

At Mr. Lamson's suggestion, board members agreed to hold a working session to discuss the budget some time before the October monthly meeting, which will be held on the Vineyard. At that meeting governors are expected to vote on fare increases and proposed schedule changes.

Yesterday Mr. Lamson also proposed a series of changes in operating schedules for the coming year. Prominent among them was a plan to convert the 10:30 p.m. trip out of Woods Hole, now operated on weekends and holidays, to daily operation from June 19 to Sept. 10.

To help save money, a number of freight boat trips later in the day would be taken off the printed scheduled, with the trips available as needed.

Also, to shift the burden from the overtaxed terminal at Vineyard Haven, Mr. Lamson proposed moving several trips to the less-used terminal in Oak Bluffs.

The change includes the 7 a.m. departure from Woods Hole, but Mr. Hanover questioned that part of the proposal, noting that some commuters from the mainland rely on the arrival in Vineyard Haven because they have vehicles at the Tisbury Park and Ride lot. Mr. Hanover said he planned to speak to passengers who use the trip about the proposed change.

In other business yesterday, director of engineering Carl Walker said he expects damage caused by Hurricane Katrina to push the arrival date of the new ferry Island Home four to six months past its scheduled delivery of June 2006. Among other Gulf Coast communities, the hurricane hit Pascagoula, Miss., home of VT Halter Marine Inc., which is building the Island Home.

Mr. Walker said damage to the Halter facilities and to the homes of its workers pose the real delay in the delivery of the Island Home. Of the 800 Halter workers at the yards, only 200 have returned to work.

A storm surge came through two shipyards in the Pascagoula area where the Island Home is under construction. At one yard, where the storm surge measured 22 feet, the ferry hull parts under construction were on platforms high enough to avoid water damage, Mr. Walker said.

At the second yard, where the storm surge was eight feet, the ferry engines were on platforms high enough to avoid most of the water, although it did reach their oil pans.

But Mr. Walker said the vessel's two generators, resting lower than the engines, were swamped by the water and are total losses. Halter is responsible to replace them.

Mr. Walker said the SSA got lucky with the gear boxes for the Island Home, which have to be ordered seven months ahead. The boxes successfully rode out the storm in a vessel near New Orleans and are unscathed, he said.