The Steamship Authority announced it will be holding open house sessions for a new reservation system.
Called the True North project, the ferry line will give riders a look into the features and improvements in the new system on the Vineyard on Dec. 4 at the Tisbury Emergency Services Facility, 215 Spring St., from 4 to 5:45 pm.
For those who cannot make it to the Dec. 4 session, the ferry line is offering a virtual option over Zoom on Dec. 11 at 5 pm, at bit.ly/TrueNorthtownhall.
The replacement of the outdated reservation systems has been a much-anticipated project for Islanders, as current operations have been heavily scrutinized by locals who have often experienced glitches when reservations go live for the summer season. This scrutiny was exacerbated after the cost of a new website the Steamship had been working on ballooned to nearly $3 million; it ultimately tabled the website revamp last year until a new reservation system was in place.
E-Dea, an Italian software company specializing in vessel and port operations, was chosen in June to revamp the reservation system.
There will also be info sessions held in Falmouth and Nantucket. Questions about the open house sessions can be directed to project consultant Thomas Innis at tinnis@steamshipauthority.com.
I have used E-Dea which provides the backbone for the Caledonian MacBrayne ferries and it works well. It didn’t not support waitlisting but that may have been CalMac’s choice. I was very pleased with how quickly it updated information by route and how far ahead it provided info. The app worked well. CalMac’s customer service staff was also stellar.
CalMac operates 36 ferries.[7].
The company enjoys a de facto monopoly on the shipment of freight and vehicles to the islands, and competes for passenger traffic with a number of aircraft services of varying quality and reliability. Nonetheless, few if any of the routes currently operated by CalMac are profitable, and the company receives significant government subsidies due to its vital role in supplying the islands: these routes are classified as “lifeline” services.
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