To the Editor:
Mr. Parker sees the future more clearly than today’s Steamship Authority.
Why move trash off-Island on expensive passenger boats full of amenities designed for people? Could Vineyard trash coming off-Island be moved across the water in other ways? How about moving people and non-time-sensitive freight at different speeds?
Could separating today’s Steamship freight so that it is moved without drivers, who could then be paid to drive, and not take ferries, save time, money, and be friendlier to the environment (slower burns, less fuel)?
As to passengers, if fast ferry passenger service between the Vineyard and Woods Hole is prohibitively expensive for the Steamship Authority to run, the Steamship should get out of the way and let the SeaStreak run the service.
How about further connecting passengers year-round by fast ferry to Boston via New Bedford or Wareham, and the coming South Coast Rail, requiring zero dependence on congested canal bridges and additional parking lots in Falmouth?
The Steamship Authority’s current failure to embrace change makes it long overdue for disruption (think Sears, Roebuck, and Co. — slow to learn new ways and today a case study in obsolescence).
Nat Trumbull
Woods Hole
