The Steamship Authority is looking to increase fares across the board including the excursion rate — a discounted fare for Islanders’ vehicle reservations aboard the ferries. And on Tuesday, the Port Council voted 4-1 to recommend a roughly 5 percent rate hikes across the board, including the excursion rate.
The fair increase is intended to cover a growing budget, and an increase would mark the first time in five years that Steamship officials agreed to up the excursion fare
The sole dissenting vote on Tuesday came from Falmouth representative Robert Munier, who felt the excursion rates had not kept pace with the other fares and suggested the rate should increase more. Munier argued that the excursion rate was “lagging” behind other rates since it has not increased since 2021. He called it a “significant disconnect” between the contribution of the excursion fare versus the standard fare.
“It’s kind of like a spiral,” Munier said.
The rate increases, and upcoming fiscal year proposed budget, are not final until approved by the Steamship board, which is scheduled to meet on Oct. 23 at the Tisbury Emergency Services Facility at 10 am.
Meanwhile, the Port Council voted 5-0 to recommend a proposed $162.081 million budget to the Steamship Authority board (Port Council members Gregory Egan of Barnstable and Eric Dawicki of Fairhaven were absent from the meeting). This is a $124,127 decrease from the budget that Steamship staff first proposed last month. Since then, changes to the budget, like a $200,000 decrease from contracts for vessel work and a $150,000 increase for staff training on the new reservation system, led to the drop in the budget.
The proposed excursion rate increases changed slightly from when Steamship staff first proposed last month as well.
Steamship treasurer and comptroller Mark Rozum said the proposed rates were the “blended average” of certain times of the year, with higher rates in the summer and lower rates in the offseason.
Here is the per trip excursion rate change supported by the Port Council:
- January to March: from $36.50 to $38.25
- April: from $36.50 to $41
- May 1 to May 14: from $36.50 to $41
- May 15 to May 31: from $53 to $41
- June to August: from $53 to $55.75
- Sept. 1 to Sept. 14: from $53 to $41
- Sept. 15 to Sept. 30: from $36.5 to $41
- October to December: from $36.5 to $41
Rozum said the ferry line had been working so the excursion fares help year-round Islanders — its intended purpose — and not subsidize businesses or those who own second homes.
“We really do understand the importance of these programs and we want to do everything we can to … help the Island residents travel as much as they can,” Rozum said.
He also said the upcoming new reservation system will allow the ferry line to better monitor the excursion rate usage and potentially offer other forms of discounts, like lower fares for less desirable trips and offering trip bundles at cheaper rates. Steamship board members have noted that the current reservation system allows some to take advantage of the Islander-only fare.
I’m wandering if these across the board fare increases also apply to the Nantucket runs? Also, the SSA talks a lot these days about how some people and businesses are gaming the excursion fare system. What’s being done to identify and close those loopholes?
I think it has been 5 years since the last excursion rate raise, and the rate has not been raised very much.
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