With a vision to eliminate transportation hurdles for up-Island residents, Hugh Taylor is pitching a water taxi between Menemsha and New Bedford.
Taylor, who leases a lot in Mememsha, presented his proposal to the Aquinnah Select Board on Tuesday and noted that this maritime connection would allow up-Island residents to avoid the hassle of traveling to Vineyard Haven or Oak Bluffs for a Steamship Authority (SSA) trip to the mainland.
“Really, there’s only one place, and that is on our lease lots,” Taylor said at the meeting. He said his lease lot, at the end of North Road, was grandfathered into a 1995 agreement between Aquinnah and Chilmark that allows for activities beyond commercial fishing. “It’s within the parameters of my lease.”
Taylor’s idea, which he estimates would cost $2 million and has been brewing in his mind for three decades, would bring a ferry service between Menemsha and New Bedford twice a day — one at 6 am and another in the afternoon — for passengers and “dolly freight” for up-Island businesses. The ride would take less than an hour to complete each way, and Taylor said it could help alleviate some of the traffic through Woods Hole. Redirecting freight out of Woods Hole, which residents have long called for, to New Bedford is a long-term goal of the SSA, which carries the majority of freight to the Island.
“It’s a great connection,” Taylor said, who expects the main customers to be tradespeople and Islanders with mainland offices, who can be connected to Boston through the MBTA’s South Coast Rail station in New Bedford.
And Islanders coming home may be able to avoid using the bridges in Bourne, the only land routes over Cape Cod Canal to reach the SSA’s Woods Hole terminal. Sagamore Bridge is scheduled to undergo construction in the winter of 2027, which is expected to cause delays, though representatives of the megaproject said it wouldn’t cause major traffic disruptions.
Taylor said Chilmark officials were amenable to an early morning trip from the fishing village, and he told the Aquinnah board that a license from the SSA, the licensing body for vessel services between the Island and the mainland, would not be needed if the water taxi carries less than 40 passengers. He thinks the appropriate vessel can be found around Seattle where some small ferry services sail to Puget Sound islands.
While financial benefits for Aquinah are less certain, Taylor floated a possibility of running deliveries through the town’s West Basin.
“I admire your courage and persistence,” Tom Murphy, Aquinnah Select Board member, said, who commended the proposal.
Taylor proposes only small changes to his lot to safely load passengers with minimal impact in Menemsha and avoid congestion.
While Chilmark would be the primary permit grantor, the Aquinnah board decided to share the proposal with town counsel.
Taylor told The Times that whether the boat is available year-round will depend on demand, since the water taxi isn’t a lifeline service like Cuttyhunk Ferry to Gosnold. Taylor said he still needs to find a way to fund the project, but if it launches, he wouldn’t need to pay embarkation fees to either town under his proposed passenger count.
“I hope to make it a collaborative effort,” Taylor told The Times, noting the Vineyard Transit Authority, Seastreak, and Chilmark.
The only ferry service in Menemsha is the bike ferry, which Taylor operates to carry passengers between Chilmark and Aquinnah within a couple of minutes. There are some vessel services that sail between New Bedford and the Island, including on-demand freight services and the seasonal Seastreak, but they all unload at Vineyard Haven or Oak Bluffs.
