The Steamship Authority has been granted a federal designation as a “commuter service,” which officials say will provide the transportation agency with a more consistent funding source.
The recent Federal Transit Administration decision is specifically for the service line between Hyannis and Nantucket, but it will provide about $5 million annually for the Steamship.
The federal agency had a provisional agreement with the ferry line, putting some federal funding in jeopardy.
“This is a big infusion of long-term, reliable funding,” congressional representative to the Islands William Keating told The Times last Wednesday.
The commuter status of the Hyannis-Nantucket ferry route was at risk in 2020, when the Federal Transit Authority announced they intended to decertify the line as a commuter service, Keating’s office said. The distinction requires that the majority of passengers are commuters. The Vineyard–Woods Hole route is considered a commuter service.
The ferry line received a provisional certification in 2020, which enabled an injection of nearly $10 million in CARES Act funding and another $2.5 million in formulaic funding; both helped to prevent a pandemic-induced stoppage of Steamship Authority services, Keating’s office said.
But that provisional certificate was set to expire this year. In June, the federal agency said it wouldn’t accept the results of commuter surveys conducted on behalf of the Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority and the Cape Cod Commission.
Keating’s office says that an additional supplemental survey was submitted in August after Keating met with FTA Administrator Nuria Fernandez to advocate for the importance of commuter status.
And in a meeting Friday, Keating said he was informed by Fernandez that the FTA was accepting the results of supplemental surveys conducted on the Hyannis-to-Nantucket ferry routes.
“I am incredibly grateful to FTA Administrator Fernandez for taking the time to understand the unique transportation challenges facing our neighbors who live or work on Nantucket,” Keating said in a statement. “Just as there was in 2020, there is once again a great sense of relief that we were able preserve this critical transit funding for our community.”
“On behalf of the Steamship Authority, its board and Port Council members, and our port communities, I extend my thanks to FTA Administrator Fernandez and Rep. Keating for their diligent work on this issue,” said Robert Davis, general manager of the Steamship Authority. “As one of the few self-funded public transit agencies in existence, partnerships such as this one represent a vital source of funding to maintain the reliability of our lifeline service to the islands of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, and to preserve the transportation network on Cape Cod and the Islands.”
