The Steamship Authority is eyeing next fall to launch an improved website with a phased rollout of a revamped reservation system.
At an open house meeting last Thursday at the Tisbury Emergency Services Facility, ferry line representatives highlighted upcoming changes to the reservation system that would allow for a more streamlined, consistent experience for customers, with better real-time notifications of trip changes.
“We wanted a system that was easier to book, that was going to make it much more person-centric in terms of the experience,” said Thomas Innis, the consultant from Gibbous tapped to overhaul the Steamship’s technology infrastructure.
Innis demonstrated how the Steamship’s future system would operate by going through a reservation process for CalMac Ferries, a Scottish operation, that the Steamship is using as a model. He highlighted that this website was consistent across different types of devices, which isn’t the case for the Steamship Authority’s current website.
Other planned changes Innis pointed out would make reservations easier for Steamship customers, including the ability to upload documents, be provided with a trip history, and save personalized information, such as what car is used. Additionally, there are plans to make certain Steamship trips –– such as those through the excursion program for Islanders, or medical programs to get patients off-Island –– more accessible. Innis also said there are plans to make a separate portal for commercial customers, like freight trucks.
The replacement of the outdated reservation systems has been a much-anticipated project for Islanders, as current operations have been heavily scrutinized by locals who have often experienced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.
The new reservation system replacement is being handled by E-Dea, an Italian software firm that specializes in vessel and port operations. Innis said E-Dea is a “major player” in the European ferry market, and also serves BC Ferries, the largest ferry system in North America. Innis said they’re learning from E-Dea’s experience, and that an improved website will be included with a new reservation system next fall.
Jim Malkin, Martha’s Vineyard representative on the Steamship Authority board, underscored that the reservation system was being built with “off-the-shelf” software. “It has been used in other places and has been successful, but it is not complete,” Malkin said, adding that it would need to be.
Malkin and other Islanders said that E-Dea should explore adding to the upcoming reservation system a better way to handle medical calls, a need that grows with the increasing, aging population on the Island. Currently, if several people need to get off-Island by boat for a medical emergency, it is up to the terminal agent to decide who gets on first. Alison Fletcher, Steamship shoreside operations director, said it can be difficult to determine what constitutes an emergency or not, and who should receive priority. “The agent can’t act as doctor or god,” Fletcher said.
Some Islanders noted that this consideration should also be given for pets because of a shortage of veterinary care on the Vineyard, and others called on the ferry line to find ways to use the upcoming reservation system to improve the standby line for vehicles.
The ferry line is also looking for beta testers, and those interested in participating can email truenorth@steamshipauthority.com.
Cindy Starks, an Oak Bluffs resident who used to work with software development, told The Times she was interested in joining as a beta tester to help make improvements to the local ferry line. “I feel like they needed some changes,” Starks said.
For Islanders who missed the meeting in Tisbury, the ferry line is offering one more virtual open house over Zoom on Dec. 11 at 5 pm, at bit.ly/TrueNorthtownhall.
This is excellent, genuinely useful reporting. Thank you to Eunki Seonwoo for clearly explaining not just what the Steamship Authority is proposing, but why Islanders have been calling for these changes for years.
A more person-centric reservation system — especially for medical travel and an aging Island population — addresses real, daily needs, not abstract technology upgrades. It also matters that the system is modeled on proven ferry operations. E-Dea, the firm handling the reservation software, already supports BC Ferries, which carries more than 20 million passengers annually. That scale suggests this is not an untested experiment.
I also appreciated the article’s attention to the reality faced by terminal agents. Asking staff to judge medical urgency in real time is neither fair nor reliable, and transportation studies consistently show that manual priority systems lead to inconsistency and conflict. Technology should be used to remove that burden, not shift it.
Clear reporting like this helps Islanders engage constructively rather than react emotionally. Pieces like this move the conversation forward. Well done.
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