The Steamship Authority announced another set of open houses regarding proposed policy changes about the implementation of the ferry line’s new reservation system.
According to a press release on Tuesday, the sessions will focus on items “affected by the move to the new system, including coupon books and excursion trips, account updates for customers; updates to Head Start for Preferred and Excursion program customers; and e-bikes and e-scooters.” SSA personnel and team members of the project, named the True North Initiative, will be available to review the proposed changes and answer questions about the “overall functionality of the reservation system.”
The first session will be held virtually on Tuesday, Sept. 15, on Zoom at 5 pm. Interested individuals can join the session by visiting bit.ly/TrueNorthinfosession. This session will also be recorded and posted to the SSA’s YouTube channel.
The second session will be held on the Island at the Martha’s Vineyard Film Center in Tisbury on Thursday, Sept. 17, from 5 to 7 pm. A session is also scheduled on Nantucket on Monday, Sept. 21, from 5 to 7 pm at the town’s public safety building.
The SSA entered into a contract last year with E-Dea, an Italian software company that specializes in vessel and port operations, to replace its outdated reservation system. The announcement of the open houses follows the Port Council meeting on Sept. 1, in which delays to the new reservation system’s development were publicly shared. While tests have been ongoing, SSA COO Mark Amundsen said the project was behind by 30 days — the first phase of the reservation system’s rollout was planned for this fall — which means less time to train staff and prepare for a public launch.
“We’re not where we want to be; we’re not far off,” Amundsen said at the meeting. He noted while “we are concerned,” the SSA has “workarounds.” The main contingency plan is delaying the public launch by a few weeks, to Jan. 5.
Other alternatives discussed include compressing the Head Start bookings to two weeks in February, which are reserved for account holders who are Islanders or seasonal residents, or splitting the general opening of summer reservations so the current system is used for a portion of it. The SSA is also eyeing the possibility of needing to postpone the new reservation system until October 2027.
Alex Kryska, SSA general manager, said that more resources were deployed last week for the project, and staff were familiarized with the system, so the process will “thrive and [be] resilient.”
While the councillors felt the project was headed in the right direction, Peter Jeffrey, Falmouth SSA board representative and IT Executive Steering Committee chair, expressed frustration over the delayed process in a subsequent committee meeting on Sept. 1. Jeffrey said the split-opening option was “unacceptable,” and a need to push the project to next October would be a “failure.”
“We have to have accountability if that happens,” Jeffrey said.
So far, 55 percent of the $2.48 million project implementation budget is spent. Similarly, 52 percent of the $247,856 contingency budget is spent. The SSA also budgeted $3.3 million in annual licenses and hosting of the system between 2026 and 2030, of which 4 percent is spent. This combines to a total budget of $6.03 million, of which $1.62 million, or 28 percent, is spent, including testing and project-related travel expenses.
Development of the SSA’s new reservation system followed the tumult of a botched website project, which was halted in 2024 after it ballooned in cost to nearly $3 million. Months after the E-Dea contract was signed, the state Inspector General released a report in December laying out how the website was “doomed from the start,” from a need for a new reservation system to the board not holding accountable the website project’s finances. The report also partly resulted in the state auditor, Diana DiZoglio, launching an audit on the SSA.
More information about the project is available at steamshipauthority.com/TrueNorth.
