Private Ferry Companies Draw Increasing Share of Passengers

By JAMES KINSELLA
Gazette Senior Writer

The popularity of Steamship Authority ferries with trucks continues
to grow.

But the number of people riding the Authority ferries compared with
last year is essentially flat. The number of automobiles, which the boat
line defines as including sport utility vehicles, has dipped a bit.

Meanwhile, the popularity of private ferry lines for passengers
traveling from the mainland to Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket
continues to increase - amounting to a loss in market share for
the boat line when it comes to passenger traffic. Under state law, the
ferry companies are restricted from carrying freight to the Islands.

And the SSA is not the only carrier to see softening passenger
numbers. At the Martha's Vineyard Airport, the total enplanements
on Cape Air (the number of people who board a commercial flight) is down
for the first six months of the year as compared with the same time
period last year - dropping to 11,212 from 11,995.

Since the boat line's high-water mark in 2002, when it carried
just over 3 million people, the number of passengers has slid by almost
400,000. The Authority at present is carrying about the same number of
people that it carried a decade ago.

Automobile traffic has declined at the Authority in recent years,
while truck traffic has increased.

In the eyes of SSA general manager Wayne Lamson, increasing the
number of passengers on boat line ferries is paramount.

"We have lots of capacity to carry additional
passengers," Mr. Lamson said yesterday. "It goes right to
the bottom line."

That's because it costs the Authority the same amount of money
to operate its ferries, whether 60 or 600 passengers are on board. Extra
passengers translate into extra revenue.

For the Steamship Authority, July and August are the money months of
the calendar year, covering all those off-season months when the boat
line expects to operate at a loss, and does.

Through July 21, the most recent period for which SSA traffic
statistics are available, the number of passengers riding Authority
ferries compared with last year is up .2 per cent, to 1,250,000.

Car traffic is off 1.3 per cent, at 221,180 cars. The number of
trucks is up 12 per cent, to almost 88,200.

These trends are reflected on the Vineyard route, where the number
of passengers is up .6 per cent, to 1,022,000; the automobiles are off
1.3 per cent, to 189,000; and the trucks are up 11.5 per cent, to
60,300.

Through July 21, the Authority's Nantucket route, when
compared to last year, is showing a 1.2 per cent decline in passengers,
a 1.1 per cent decline in automobiles, and a 13.1 per cent increase in
trucks.

Through May, the most recent month for which results are available
for the private ferry companies licensed by the Authority, all the
companies are showing improved results.

Most prominent among them is Hy-Line, which carried 96,421
passengers on its Nantucket route, an increase of 20,930, or 27.8 per
cent, and 13,835 passengers on its Vineyard route, where the
introduction of a fast ferry has pushed the year-to-date numbers up by
almost 12,000 passengers.

New England Fast Ferry, which operates two fast ferries between New
Bedford and the Vineyard ports of Vineyard Haven and Oak Bluffs, is up
5,918, or 27.8 per cent, for the first five months of the year. The
second of the company's two fast ferries came into service last
May.

Michael Glasfeld, president of New England Fast Ferry, said his
company's service on the route is so new that even small increases
tend to show up as large percentage jumps. In contrast, Mr. Glasfeld
said, the boat line has a mature audience with very small percentage
rises or declines.

But Mr. Glasfeld welcomes the higher ridership numbers.
"We're happy for it, we really are," he said
yesterday.

Adding the second boat, he said, has increased the company's
daily round-trips to nine. That has helped bring aboard more passengers
by offering a more constant and consistent service.

He said three main groups are riding the company's ferries:
contractors and tradesmen traveling to construction jobs on the Island;
student-athletes traveling to games; and people traveling to the
Vineyard for casual day trips or to stay for several days for pleasure.

The other licensed carriers also are showing increases, albeit
sometimes small ones. Falmouth Ferry Service, which operates the
seasonal Pied Piper service between Falmouth and Edgartown, is up 11 to
597. Freedom Cruise Line, which operates between Harwich and Nantucket,
is up 105 to 350.

Although the Authority passenger totals are staying flat, Mr. Lamson
said, the boat line is losing market share to its competitors.

The competition is most telling on the Nantucket route, where
Hy-Line's Grey Lady fast ferry carried 27,795 passengers in May,
compared to 16,705 passengers carried by the SSA fast ferry Flying Cloud.
The Authority plans to take delivery of a replacement for the Flying
Cloud, the Iyanough, by mid-November.

Authority managers are mulling ways to reverse loss in market share.

The Authority may decide to increase its television advertising, Mr.
Lamson said. Expanding the Vineyard schedule next spring by adding a 6
a.m. ferry departure from Woods Hole and a 9:30 p.m. departure from
Vineyard Haven also might help.

In recent months, the Authority also has emphasized the out-of-town
bus connections to its ferry service out of Woods Hole. Mr. Lamson said
whether the push is paying off remains to be seen.

Meanwhile, like a farmer watching the weather, Mr. Lamson is hoping
for sun for the rest of the summer to induce people to ride Authority
ferries.

"The weather's been pretty good in July," he said.
"We're hoping that continues into August."