As August makes way to September and the Vineyard readies its goodbye to summer, businesses are reporting mixed results even though preliminary data show more traffic on roads, runways and ferries.

Woods Hole never witnessed a morning quite like July 1, 1995.

Sunrise in the port town revealed a thick trail of overstuffed sedans, wagons, trucks and jeeps snaking its way from standby line at the packed Steamship Authority terminal to the Woods Hole Road and beyond. The standby line itself topped 400 cars; more than 1,000 passengers awaited ferries to begin a four-day holiday weekend.

It was, in a word, gridlock.

Harbor reservations are at an all-time high, ferries have robust bookings and the airport is bracing for its annual onslaught of private and commercial planes.

The Steamship Authority saw last month's Martha's Vineyard passenger traffic rise nearly 26 per cent compared to January 2022.

Automobile and passenger traffic on Steamship Authority ferries plunged into steep decline this month, just as the coronavirus pandemic began its spread into Massachusetts.

Summer vehicle traffic numbers from the Steamship Authority are on track to match last year’s record-breaking figures, and backups continue to snarl Island roads in July and August.

For the third straight year the Steamship Authority carried a record number of cars and trucks on the Vineyard route this summer.

The Island may be busier this summer, if advance reservations on the Steamship Authority are an indication.

Reservations for vehicle passage from Woods Hole to the Vineyard are up 3.5 per cent over last year, and bookings in the other direction are up 4.6 per cent, according to data collected by the Steamship Authority at the end of April.

April Steamship Authority traffic was down slightly from the same period last year, though summer numbers are showing improvement.

At the Steamship Authority board of governors meeting Tuesday in Nantucket, general manager Wayne Lamson said April passenger traffic was down 3.3 per cent from April 2012.

As the Island starts to transition from summer crowds to autumn quiet, the Steamship Authority is reporting that traffic was up compared with last year.

“The summer was good; the traffic has been good,” Steamship Authority general manager Wayne Lamson told the Gazette this week.

June passenger traffic to the Vineyard was up by 4.7 per cent; July passenger traffic saw a decrease of 1.9 per cent; and August traffic was up by 7.2 per cent compared with 2011, according to Steamship Authority data. Passenger traffic is up 4.6 per cent for the year to date.