Ferry service to and from the Vineyard returned to some degree of normalcy Sunday afternoon, after one of two disabled ferries was cleared to resume service. Meanwhile, the Martha’s Vineyard representative on the Steamship Authority board called for an independent review of the boat line’s communications and operations in light of what he called an unprecedented fiasco that has disrupted traffic for days.

“Management did a lot of things well, helping people with medical issues and letting people park and ride for free, but our communications were terrible. People deserve better. They deserve to know what is going on,” said Marc Hanover in an interview Sunday with the Gazette.

The U.S. Coast Guard cleared the ferry Woods Hole to resume service starting with a scheduled trip at 3:45 p.m. Sunday, Steamship Authority general manager Bob Davis said in an press release. The Woods Hole was pulled from service late Thursday night because of a mechanical issue that had plagued the ferry on and off for about a week.

As of early Monday afternoon the ferry was operating without any issues.

The ferry Martha’s Vineyard, the other main passenger ferry providing service to the Island, was taken out of service Tuesday night after problems with the generator and is now expected to return to operation Wednesday pending Coast Guard inspection, Mr. Davis said in a statement Monday.

The Martha's Vineyard was expected to return to service Tuesday, but Mr. Davis said in a statement that the ferry will be delayed a day as the Steamship Authority submits updated testing procedures for the vessel's new switchboard.

The Coast Guard's Marine Safety Center will review the procedures before tests are completed Tuesday. The ferry will likely return to its regular service on Wednesday, Mr. Davis said.

Standby lines have been reopened in both Woods Hole and Vineyard Haven, the Steamship Authority said, but passengers with vehicles were encouraged to travel with a reservation.

The freight vessel Katama continued to operate according to its published schedule and the freight ferry Sankaty will continue providing service in place of the ferry Martha’s Vineyard.

The passenger-only SeaStreak ferry Whaling City Express, which has been operating high-speed service between the Vineyard and Woods Hole since Friday morning, was to end service after 4 p.m. Sunday, the Steamship Authority said.

Mr. Hanover said the factors that led to two ferries being disabled at once appeared to be unrelated, but that the Steamship Authority needs to be better prepared to handle these issues.

“These boats get heavy, heavy use and they require an awful lot of maintenance. We need to be on top of that,” he said. “There are a lot more electronics involved than in the old days, and these new engines are far more complicated with the emissions systems on them now.”

And he was critical of varying standards used by ferry captains in deciding under what conditions to sail.

“We have captains that sail sometimes and others that choose not to and I don’t understand why that is. My feeling is that the only reason not to run a boat is when safety is involved. I don’t know if it is training or what it is, but I’d like to know,” he said. “We need to be more consistent. We need to be more reliable. We need to be on time.”

He also noted that the situation pointed at a problem with the Island’s reserves of heating fuel. While Nantucket is able to get along for four days without fuel shipments from the mainland, the Vineyard’s supply of propane was depleted after a day.

But Mr. Hanover reserved his biggest criticism for the way communications were handled, ticking off examples of what he said was the boat line’s inadequate response.

“Inaccurate posts on the website. We need a Facebook page. We need an Instagram page. We need to have all sorts of ways to contact our customers,” he said.

He said he had spoken Sunday to Mr. Davis about the need for a marine consultant to look at this and other issues. It was unclear Sunday what the next step would be.

The ferry Woods Hole traveled back to the Vineyard from the Steamship Authority Fairhaven maintenance dock on Sunday. Mr. Davis said the engineering department and a vendor technician determined that check valves in the ferry’s port propeller shaft had broken. Technicians installed newer models of the valves for both the port and starboard shafts, Mr. Davis said, and reassembled the units.

The Coast Guard inspected the repairs and took the vessel on sea trials before clearing the vessel to return to service, he said.

The ferry Martha’s Vineyard has been in and out of service since the ferry lost power off East Chop last Saturday night, stranding more than 70 passengers for about five hours. Problems stemmed from issues with ferry generators, Mr. Davis has said.

On Sunday Mr. Davis said the engineering department and a technician for the vendor of the ferry’s generator identified parts of the generator that need to be replaced. Work is expected to be done in time for a Coast Guard inspection on Monday, he said, and the boat line anticipates that the ferry will return to service Tuesday.

A third ferry, the Island Home, is also undergoing routine maintenance, and is now due back in service on Wednesday. Mr. Hanover said the Island Home was originally supposed to be back in service last Friday, but was kept a little longer to ensure it was fit.

The unexpected loss of two ferries created a chaotic scene for ferry passengers and the Steamship Authority throughout the week. On Friday a line of cars reached from the Vineyard Haven terminal to Five Corners as customers figured out what to do. The boat line cancelled standby service except for medical emergencies and ferries ran late-night trips Friday for trucks to deliver goods to the Island.

Mr. Hanover praised SeaStreak management, which he said was apprised of the Steamship Authority’s problems at 11 p.m. Thursday night and got a spare ferry from New Jersey to Massachusetts and ready to begin operation by 6 a.m. the next morning. He also was complimentary of the Steamship Authority’s management.

“They’ve done an outstanding job throughout this, but I don’t want them to go through this again,” he said.