With finances on an even keel again amid ongoing robust ferry traffic, Steamship Authority governors voted Tuesday to approve a $119.6 million operating budget for the coming year.
Calling it a “bitter pill” to swallow, Steamship Authority governors said Tuesday they would back an operating budget for the coming year that will include across-the board rate hikes.
A 2020 operating budget, fare hikes for the coming year and a preliminary new design for the Woods Hole terminal are expected to be discussed when boat line governors meet on the Vineyard Tuesday.
Martha’s Vineyard residents who wanted to talk about the Steamship Authority’s latest fare hikes at the boat line’s monthly meeting Tuesday were required to wait.
Islanders and day trippers alike will spend a little more to travel on the Steamship Authority beginning early next year. Parking fees in the off-site ferry lots in Falmouth are also slated to go up in January.
The Steamship Authority will increase rates for parking and some freight trucks on the Martha’s Vineyard route next year. Meeting Tuesday morning at the Katharine Cornell Theatre in Vineyard Haven, the boat line board of governors unanimously approved an $85.3 million 2014 operating budget.
Steamship Authority governors this week approved an operating budget for the coming year that includes slight fare increases for automobiles to and from the Vineyard.
Meeting Tuesday in Woods Hole, the board approved a budget with operating expenses of more than $83 million, a 4.1 per cent increase over estimated total operating costs for 2012.
Traffic is down, revenues are down, there's an economic downturn going on and the weather has been awful.
As a result of all this, the Steamship Authority will begin to sell advertising space on the ferries and in the boat line terminals to pick up some extra cash.
Boat line managers also said yesterday that they will continue to pursue a plan to change the winter ferry schedule on the Vineyard run as a way to save some money.
