Boat Line Ready to Vote on Fast Ferry

By JULIA WELLS

An abrupt announcement by Steamship Authority managers early this
week that they will convert the passenger ferry Schamonchi to a private
operation led to another abrupt announcement yesterday: A license
agreement with a private operator who wants to run high-speed ferry
service between New Bedford and the Vineyard is now set for a vote next
week.

The boat line governors will take a final vote on the license
agreement at the monthly SSA meeting on Nantucket next Thursday morning.

Vineyard Steamship Authority governor Kathryn A. Roessel said
yesterday that a special public meeting will be held on the Vineyard on
Tuesday night to discuss the details of the license agreement. The
meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. in the Katharine Cornell Theatre in
Vineyard Haven.

"Full details - we're going to lay it all out on
Tuesday night," she said.

It is understood that the boat line is now poised to sign a
seven-year contract with New England Fast Ferry LLC, a private ferry
consortium, for year-round high-speed passenger service between the New
Bedford State Pier and the Vineyard. The service is planned for startup
next summer.

Other terms of the proposed contract include:

* An agreement for the SSA to take over the service at the end
of seven years if it is profitable.

* An agreement for the SSA to share parking revenues with the
city of New Bedford from a city-owned parking lot that will serve the
ferry.

New Bedford has not yet agreed to the shared parking fees, but Ms.
Roessel said yesterday that she will vote on the recommendation from
management next week as is - and New Bedford can take the deal or
leave it.

"I'd rather see no New Bedford service than have us
undertake any kind of New Bedford service that puts our ticket prices at
risk," the Vineyard boat line governor declared.

Ms. Roessel also confirmed that the complicated side show now under
way with the Schamonchi is in fact a strategy move aimed at clearing the
way for the formal handshake with New England Fast Ferry.

In short form, the decision to convert the Schamonchi to a private
operation will trigger the Pacheco law, the state anti-privatization law
that now applies to the boat line since the enabling legislation was
changed last year.

Under the Pacheco law, cost savings must be demonstrated before a
state agency can convert a service from public to private - but
this is not likely to be a difficult task since the Schamonchi has been
swimming in red ink since the boat line bought it three years ago.

SSA chief executive officer Fred C. Raskin downplayed the strategy
yesterday, pointing instead to the huge losses on the ferry, which is
expected to lose about $800,000 again this year even after a decision
last month to shorten the season.

"Ridership is down 35 per cent; we're going to lose
$800,000 in a shortened season - we're not making
progress," Mr. Raskin said.

"It's not real strategy; you learn in law school that
you can't prove the negative," he added.

But Ms. Roessel underscored the fact that the general counsel for
the state auditor told the boat line last month that if the contract is
signed with New England Fast Ferry, the boat line cannot discontinue
service on the Schamonchi without triggering the Pacheco Act.

"You can't privatize twice, that's why we're
doing it with the Schamonchi," she said.

She added:

"Nobody ever meant it to work out like this, but the purchase
of the Schamonchi [three years ago, for $1.2 million], coupled with the
fact that New Bedford made it impossible to do the trial fast ferry run
[last year], coupled with the fact that the legislature saw fit to
saddle us with Pacheco [last year] has brought us to a pretty
complicated state of affairs - and we feel this is the least
complicated way to unravel it and the least risky for the rate
payers."

Mr. Raskin said senior managers have already taken steps to put out
a request for proposals (RFP) for the Schamonchi; he said he is
confident that the boat line will find a private operator. He also said
the SSA plans to pay some kind of subsidy to the private operator,
although he could not say how much. "I will tell you that it will
be modest and it will not be forever," Mr. Raskin said.

Mr. Raskin met with boat line employees this week to discuss the
impending change in the Schamonchi, which will translate to union job
layoffs.

"I feel terrible about it, but our first duty is to the
customer in terms of economics. I think New Bedford service is a good
thing to have but not at unreasonable cost - the core function is
what's important here: Woods Hole, Martha's Vineyard,
Hyannis and Nantucket," Mr. Raskin said.

Ms. Roessel said on Tuesday night boat line managers will show the
cost difference between contracting with a private operator and the
Steamship Authority running a fast ferry service itself. Union leaders
and some Vineyard residents - including Vineyard port council
member Marc Hanover - are arguing the boat line should run its own
fast ferry service. Ms. Roessel said she has seen the numbers and her
conclusion is clear:

"I am prepared to vote on management's recommendation.
Wayne Lamson [the longtime boat line treasurer] supports it, too. We
invite everyone to come on Tuesday and give us their comments and tell
us why it's a bad idea. And people should remember that the
Vineyard is in the middle of two enormous capital projects right now
- replacing the ferry Islander and refurbishing the Oak Bluffs
wharf. To take on a third right now in an uncertain economic climate is
not where I want to be."