The Steamship Authority’s advisory port council agreed this week to recommend that the Steamship Authority governing board approve an across-the-board slate of fare increases for next year.
The hikes are needed to ensure the Steamship Authority ends 2027 in the black, treasurer and comptroller Mark Rozum said at the port council meeting Tuesday.
“Without a rate adjustment, we’d have a net income of approximately $150,000,” he said.
If the authority’s governing board approves the rates, passenger tickets would go up by 50 cents for adults and 25 cents for children and seniors.
For vehicles, the recommended increases would raise the cost of excursion fares by $5.25 in each direction from mid-May to mid-September and by $4 each way the rest of the year. These fares include the 50-cent increase for two adult passengers included in the excursion rate, Mr. Rozum said.
Standard vehicle fares would rise by between $6 and $18 each way, depending on the time of year, and freight service is facing a flat 7.5 per cent increase year-round.
Daily parking fees would go up $1 and permit parking would increase by $50 a year for the Palmer Avenue lot and $200 a year for the Woods Hole lot.
The port council also voted to recommend the 2027 operating schedule for the Martha’s Vineyard route, including a 5:30 a.m. summer departure from Woods Hole that Falmouth residents have opposed for years.
The vote included a new restriction on the corresponding 5:30 a.m. summer ferry from Vineyard Haven, prohibiting it from carrying large trucks to the mainland.
The Vineyard’s two port council members, Joseph Sollitto of Oak Bluffs and John Cahill of Vineyard Haven, voted against the truck size limit, which Steamship Authority general manager Alex Kryska had said was meant as a concession to Woods Hole and Falmouth residents.
Mr. Kryska also won the council’s approval to recommend a 10 per cent fee increase for the Steamship Authority’s licenses to the regional bus lines Peter Pan and Plymouth and Brockton, both of which are up for renewal at the end of this year.
“We haven’t raised the rates in five years and we have done significant improvements, and we’ll continue to do significant improvements to the terminals, so I think it is a good time,” he said. “Costs have gone up across the board.”
Mr. Rozum said the bus lines pay fees of between $15.90 to $16.80 per trip, depending on the season, with revenues from both companies totaling close to $500,000 over the past five years.
The Steamship Authority board is expected to take up the port council’s recommendations on Nov. 17.