<p>The Steamship Authority has announced further service reductions on the Vineyard route, beginning this week. The ferry Martha’s Vineyard will go off line on weekends.
The Steamship Authority has announced further service reductions on the Vineyard route, beginning Thursday this week.
In announcement Tuesday, the boat line said it would take the ferry Martha’s Vineyard off line on weekends, running only the combined freight-car-passenger ferry Woods Hole on Saturdays and Sundays.
Overall, the schedule will be reduced to seven round trips a day between Martha’s Vineyard and Woods Hole on weekends, with 10 round trips daily Monday through Friday, and an 11th trip running on an as-needed basis.
The Martha’s Vineyard, which uses a single crew, will run three scheduled round trips daily on weekdays, with a fourth trip available if needed. (That trip is the 2:30 p.m. Woods Hole to Martha’s Vineyard, and the 3:45 Martha’s Vineyard to Woods Hole return.)
The new schedule is posted on the boat line website.
The service cuts will remain in effect at least through May 5, the SSA said.
“It’s all in response to decreased demand, and all in anticipation that demand will not increase in the future due to Covid,” SSA communications director Sean Driscoll said Tuesday after the announcement. “There is nothing on the horizon that says to us that this is going to be short term, so we are preparing for that.”
The ferries Martha’s Vineyard and Woods Hole have been the primary vessels on the Vineyard route all winter. The Nantucket and Island Home are in drydock for scheduled off-season maintenance work.
The freight ferry Katama was taken off the Vineyard route in the first round of service cuts last month. Those cuts were accompanied by about 65 layoffs.
Ridership has plummeted since the coronavirus outbreak began in mid-March, with the boat line reporting a nearly 35 per cent drop in both automobile and passenger traffic in the last two weeks of the month.
Last week, the SSA announced that it had cut six trips on the Vineyard route as a cost-saving measure due to decreasing demand.
Comments
The Steamship Authority made
Sue C. Clearwater, FlThe Steamship Authority made the right decision. It is crucial that the residents of both the Vineyard and Nantucket become the priority during the coronavirus outbreak. Neither Island, with small hospitals and limited staff could handle a major influx of patients. Everything should be done to protect the people who live on both Islands full time. Feel free to visit after the pandemic is over and all our lives are back to normal.
This is based on the lack of
Paying attention edgThis is based on the lack of demand and not any attempt to restrict access to the island.
Smart move but, a little late
Jyl Manning MVSmart move but, a little late ! The horse is already out of the barn !
Did the SSA workers get laid
Bob EdgartownDid the SSA workers get laid off, due to the ferries cutback?
Yes, absolutely correlated to
Mark EdgartownYes, absolutely correlated to the reduced schedule. Close to 17 million Americans have lost their jobs in the last three weeks. Unfortunately stay at home equates to no revenue and without revenue you can’t pay employees.
I think you mistake their
Mr. B ChilmarkI think you mistake their motivation. They want to reduce costs. It's as simple as that. When demand increases, they will add boats to cover it and increase revenue. If it decreases further, they will impose further cuts...to save money.
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