In these tough times, Steamship Authority general manager Wayne Lamson is as eager as anyone else to find some tiny cause for optimism, and thinks he might at last have found one.

The number of people riding the ferries to the Vineyard has ticked up at last, just as the tourist season is starting.

Not by much. The number of passengers carried by SSA ferries rose 0.9 per cent for the month of May, compared with the same month last year. And the number of cars rose 2.4 per cent.

But given the difficulties of the past year or so — declining traffic, wildly fluctuating fuel prices, the general economic malaise — any good news is welcome.

The result represents a big turnaround in just a couple of months; the boat line’s passenger statistics for March were its worst in more than a decade, down some 11 per cent, year on year.

And it bolsters Mr. Lamson’s hopeful view that this summer may not be as bad as first feared.

He based his hopes on advance booking numbers. In January and February they were down 12 or 13 per cent compared with 2008, for the high season from June 1 to Oct. 12.

By March, that had come back to about 11 per cent. His theory was that economic uncertainty made people uncertain about their vacation plans, that their decision would be delayed.

And yesterday, he restated the theory: “I think people are waiting a little longer to make their plans, but in the end they come.”

And so this month’s meeting of the board of governors, to be held on Tuesday on Nantucket, is likely to be less glum than meetings over the past year or so, as the SSA begins the process of formulating the budget for 2010.

There still are some reasons for concern, however. Truck traffic is still down, although by less than previously.

And the price of fuel — which last year caused multiple revisions of the budget numbers as oil soared to a record of $140 a barrel — is again on the rise.

“Going in, we’ve already got a cap, which will help us as things continue to creep upwards. It’s up around $70 a barrel now, compared with $40 just a few months ago,” Mr. Lamson said.

But the SSA is better prepared this time. It has hedged fuel costs through the first half of the coming year; the upside risk is capped.

“In the meantime if rates were to go down, we’re not locked in at a fixed price for fuel, so we’ll continue to derive any savings if prices trend downwards, at least for the first six months.

“We will be looking at what we have to do beyond that,” the general manager said.

The fuel issue will be central to budget planning, he said: “There doesn’t seem to be any fundamental reason for the fuel price rise. Demand continues to fall off and supply is creeping up a bit.”

But as things now stand, boat line management is hopeful there will be no need for fare increases in the coming year. Over the first five months of this year, despite declines in traffic and revenue, the boat line was running ahead of forecasts.

Tuesday’s meeting also will begin consideration of schedules for the coming winter, but Mr. Lamson said they were likely to stay largely unchanged.