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.