Everyone will be paying more to travel aboard Steamship Authority ferries next year, following a unanimous vote by the boat line board of governors Thursday morning.
Across-the-board fare increases averaging about 5 per cent go into effect Jan. 1, ranging from 25 cents for discount child and senior passenger tickets to $6 dollars each way for standard automobiles in high season. Freight charges are going up 5.5 per cent.
The fare increases are needed to help close a roughly $7.5 million gap in the operating budget that’s largely due to higher costs for maintenance, training and information technology, treasurer Mark Rozum told the board.
The only alternative for balancing the 2026 budget would be to cut service — and personnel — during the unprofitable winter months, he said.
Board members agreed that such cuts would be unacceptable to Islanders and belie the Steamship Authority’s statutory responsibility to provide Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket residents with access to the necessities of life.
“Cutting service in our losing months of the winter would have a disastrous impact on the Islands,” said chair James Malkin, who represents the Vineyard on the board of governors.
Rate adjustments on the Vineyard route are projected to add $4.5 million to the Steamship Authority’s 2026 revenue, with Nantucket increases accounting for $3 million, Mr. Rozum said.
Vineyarders’ excursion rates, which cover the cost for a vehicle and passenger tickets for two adults and two children, are rising for the first time since 2021.
Currently, Islanders in the excursion program pay $36.50 each way in the offseason and $53 in the summer, equally $73 and $106 roundtrip.
The new fares are rising by $1.75 in winter, bringing the total to $38.25 each way. In April and May and from Sept. 1 to Dec. 31, tickets will bet $41 each way, and in June, July and August fares will be $55.75 each way.
The hikes still fall well short of recouping the actual cost of carrying a vehicle, according to Mr. Rozum.
The number of Islanders using the excursion program has increased in recent years, while the number of standard fare trips have dropped, contributing to the deficit. On top of that, Steamship officials have said they’ve seen a small percentage of motorists abusing the excursion system.
The new reservations system, which is being developed now by the Italian software firm E-Dea and is expected to go into service late next year, will allow the boat line to tailor the excursion program and ensure that the subsidized fares are available only to the year-round Islanders they were designed for, Mr. Rozum said.
That prospect, combined with a new three-tier schedule of excursion rates for 2026, won over Falmouth board member Peter Jeffrey, a week after Falmouth port council member Robert Munier voted against a two-tiered increase because he felt it should be higher.
While agreeing with Mr. Munier that the excursion increases lag inflation by several dollars in each direction, Mr. Jeffrey said he voted for the hikes with the understanding that future adjustments will reduce the burden of the subsidies on mainland-based Steamship riders.
“Capping the number of excursion fares is probably the way to go,” Mr. Jeffrey said, referring to the port council discussion last week in which members eyed potential changes to the program.
The board of governors also voted unanimously to approve Mr. Rozum’s $162 million budget for 2026, which includes $6.62 million for vessel maintenance, nearly $5 million for terminal, dolphin and dock repairs and $1.6 million in training and crewing expenses.
“We don’t look at these as expenses. We look at these as investments,” Mr. Rozum said.
Ferry crew members account for nearly 44 per cent of the Steamship Authority’s payroll expenses, he said, followed by nearly 25 per cent for terminal and parking staff, 15 per cent for engineering and maintenance and just over 11 per cent for administration, with reservations staff at 3.3 per cent and trainers at 2 per cent.
After pushback from Vineyarders earlier this fall, Mr. Rozum and communications director Sean Driscoll also dissected the boat line’s $1.28 million advertising budget, which they said is aimed strictly at attracting day trippers and other walk-on passengers, the Steamship’s most profitable fare category.
“Our spend is very limited to the Cape and Islands market and the Boston market, both for TV and radio,” Mr. Driscoll said.
“There’s a lot of competition for attention these days, so we’re trying to aim at people who are already here, generally speaking, and get them to take a day trip to the Islands or a quick weekend trip to the Islands without bringing their vehicles,” he said.
Mr. Driscoll’s assertion drew a skeptical response from Islander Elizabeth O’Connor during the public comment period of Thursday’s meeting.
“It would require 82,000 people in the summer deciding they’re going to make a last minute, same-day trip to Nantucket or the Vineyard to pay for the TV, the radio and billboard,“ said Ms. O’Connor, who is also one of the leaders of a recently formed Steamship citizens action group.
In other business Thursday, the board voted to extend general manager Robert Davis’s contract for another two months. Mr. Davis, who had been slated to step into an advisory position on Oct. 31, now will remain in his current position through the end of the year.
Mr. Malkin attributed the extension to the need for more time to consider candidates for the boat line’s next general manager, after some contenders dropped out due to scathing social media comments about the Steamship Authority.
An international search for Mr. Davis’s successor is nearing a decisive point, however, he said.
“We have been in the process of doing deep due diligence on the candidates who remain with us [and] we are preparing for early November to bring to the board two candidates to be interviewed,” Mr. Malkin said.
The final candidates’ names will not be disclosed until 48 hours before the public interviews, he said.
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