A package of rate hikes for the coming year will be on the table for discussion when Steamship Authority governors meet in Oak Bluffs this morning.
Intended to close a $1.9 million anticipated budget gap, the fare increases are expected to affect parking, passenger fees and excursion fares for year-round Islanders, among other things. The proposal unveiled last month called for increasing round-trip off-season excursion fares from $61 to $63.
The meeting begins at 9:30 a.m. in the Oak Bluffs library.
The 2015 operating budget will be up for a vote. The agenda also calls for updates on the Woods Hole terminal reconstruction project, Palmer avenue parking lot improvements and the new freight ferry that will be built beginning this winter. The ferry will be named the Woods Hole. Renewed license agreements for the Seastreak and Island Queen passenger ferries are also slated for discussion and a vote.
Reserved for year-round Islanders, low-cost excursion fares have seen a steady increase since 1990, the first year the boat line has records for the rate. When it first went into effect, the rate was $30 for one-day round trip and $44 for a one to five-day round trip. Later the rules were changed to ease the time restrictions on the fare, making it good for a month.
Ten years ago the off-season rate for a car under 17 feet was $39. In 2006 the rate went up to $45 and in 2007 it went up to $52. In 2008 it was raised again to $57. In 2011 it was raised to $59 and in 2013 the rate went to $61.
The fare includes two adults and two children and goes up to $92 in the summer.
SSA general manager Wayne Lamson said last week that the boat line has more than 13,000 customer profiles on the two Islands that are eligible for the excursion fares.
Mr. Lamson said the increases have generally stayed on a par with cost of living increases and fuel cost increases. In 2000, he said the boat line was paying a little over a dollar per gallon for fuel; today that cost is more than three dollars a gallon. He also noted increases in the level of service provided. And he said the cost of building the new ferry is also clearly a factor this year.
“When you have to replace a vessel and it costs two to three times what the earlier vessel cost, that has to be factored in,” Mr. Lamson said.
Olivia Hull contributed reporting.
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