Steamship Authority officials are now considering whether the launch of the ferry line’s new website should be pushed back until an updated reservation system is implemented, an idea that would further set back a new website that has been years in the making, and cost millions of dollars.
Steamship Authority general manager Robert Davis told Port Council members this week that testing was underway for the new website’s performance in handling a certain number of visitors, and credit card testing. If testing goes as planned, customers will be able to make reservations online during the January general opening without needing to be placed in a virtual waiting room, when the new website goes live.
“Right now, the timeline is … middle part of October before we’re ready,” Davis said, although further beta testing may be needed for the new website.
Davis said that significant delays and malfunctions when reservations went live on the website for general openings — when thousands of people are trying to make reservations — prompted the ferry line to pursue a new website.
To many customers, the website and the reservation system seems to be the same. However, Thomas Innis from Gibbous, the technology consultancy firm hired by the ferry line for an overdue tech overhaul, said the website acts as the public’s “front door” to interacting with the reservation system.
Still, the ferry line is looking to replace the aging reservation system, which was originally built in 1997. The Steamship Authority is planning to issue a request for proposals this fall, and the timeline shows the contractor selection and contract signing is planned to occur next spring.
Innis said work is underway to acquire a new reservation system under a tight, two- to three-year timeline, considering they are working with older information technology.
But some councilors were troubled that the new reservation system project was being prepared so much later than the website redesign, expressing concerns over the two replaced systems’ compatibility.
“What we’ve learned through this process, unfortunately, is that we probably should have started with updating the reservation system first,” Tisbury representative John Cahill said.
Cahill continued, saying he wouldn’t be surprised if modifications to the new website would be needed after a new reservation system was set, if not completely changed. He suggested postponing launching the website until the new reservation system was in place.
“The question that really has been raised a couple of times is, Would we be better off putting this existing website that we’re hoping to launch — underline the word hoping — on the shelf for a period of time until we have further definition as to what we’re going to be doing with the reservation system?” Cahill said. “As painful as that sounds, that needs to be said.”
As for the current reservation system, Cahill called it “fragile” — an expensive operation that is “run by one guy who lives in Wisconsin.”
The reservation system source code, which are the commands to execute a computer program, belongs to Saber Tech. The Steamship Authority has an agreement with the individual who owns the software that if something were to happen to the vendor, the ferry line gains the rights to the source code.
“This is not how we want to operate going forward,” Cahill said. “We need to make the change to a new reservation system quickly. If it takes nine months, that’s still too long.”
Oak Bluffs representative Joe Sollitto agreed with postponing the website’s launch, pitching the possibility of developing the website and the reservation system simultaneously to ensure they function properly and are launched at similar times — an idea that Cahill described as “aggressive” but possible with the expenditure of a lot of resources by the ferry line.
Many resources have already gone into the website project that kicked off in February 2022, which had expectations to be completed within a year. In 2023, the Steamship Authority entered into a $1.996 million contract with Boston-based developer ADK Group, which later became Stellar Elements, for a redesigned website and a new app. While the ferry line was awarded $1 million for the project from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Ferry Boat Program, delays and budgetary increases ballooned the total cost of the project to $2.8 million in June 2023.
And while no budget increases have been requested since then, the Steamship Authority has paid $29,000 a month in support services to Stellar Elements for the still-unfinished website.
Eric Dawicki, Fairhaven representative, said creating the website shouldn’t have taken so long.
“A website is really easy to build these days, especially with AI,” he said. “You can build your whole website in a week, quite frankly, and make it function, and anybody that tells you differently, they’re full of baloney.”
Still, Dawicki expressed confidence that the transition to a new reservation system can be accomplished in a timely manner.
Innis said there would be a shift in the management of the reservation system, since the ferry line would be looking to use one that is already on the market.
“We’re not developing a system,” Innis said. “It’s all about how to configure that system, what the Steamship needs, and then that process of really making sure everybody is ready for that day one launch.”
Falmouth representative Robert Munier, who chairs the Port Council, commented that changing the reservation system seemed more like a management issue rather than a technological one.
Ultimately, changes to the website project’s contract would need to go before the Steamship Authority board for final approval.
I have no words for the ridiculousness of the SSA, unreal!
“What we’ve learned through this process, unfortunately, is that we probably should have started with updating the reservation system first,” Tisbury representative John Cahill said.
Why is it left to Mr. Cahill (thank you, John) to state the obvious? The Times should ask why the Vineyard and Nantucket Steamship Authority board members, who control 70 percent of the vote, and SSA CEO Bob Davis have watched this process unfold without taking bold, decisive action. The notion that the SSA only lately realized there could be a problem sticking a new website on top of software created in 1997—27 years ago—and backed up by a one-man operation boggles the mind. And how about that new terminal …
How about that new bridge…
What we have learned is what happens when we the people elect people who appoint people to run our ferries.
This has been mentioned on several social media sites for some time. Trying to force several old software systems to work together on old hardware is just silly
When does the General Manager of the SSA get shelved?
Is the ticketing system integrated with the accounting system?
Think about that.
Of course it is.
You count tickets.
It will always be a challenge to keep up with the times. Remember the days when making a long distance call home on a holiday was a challenge and sometimes you just had to wait and keep trying.
The SSA must go back to telephone reservations and tickets by mail.
They should go to the high school and get a bunch
a students to form a task group to get a website
up and running. It would be done in month, and it would work.
Sometimes you just need to get the “adults” out of the room.
It’s nearly ludicrous to ask for accounting of how we got to this point. The SSA has always been reactive, not proactive. Is there no one in this organization capable of thinking ahead?
The SSA is creature of we the people.
Democracy in action.
Let me get this straight from my point of view:
The SSA hired a consultant (Gibbous) who essentially told them that the reservation system was held together by one probably very tired guy, some chewing gum, and 4 paper clips – that essentially they couldn’t believe it still worked at all – and to hire additional people to help and the thing the SSA decides to do is make the website prettier.
So basically they started to paint the outside of the house, it’s not close to being finished and they are still paying the painter $29k a month. And oh, by the way, the foundation is still on tree trunks and is the original from 1871.
Hint: * No * one * cares * what the website looks like. An app that worked would be a nice to have. But if we have to choose, we will take
accuracy and transparency in availability over a slick landing page that may likely continue to be one systematic 404 error after another.
That is all.
Just….wow.
The SSA needs new management.
We will get that when we get new voters.
Out with the old, in with the new.
Newer, shiner, faster.
Someone everyone will love…
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