With everything from cost and size to lunch counters under consideration, the Steamship Authority this week continued a discussion about vessel replacement alternatives.

Meeting on the Vineyard Tuesday morning, the governors heard an update about plans to begin replacing some of the boat line fleet.

It’s been 65 years since the first Steamship Authority was created, signed into existence by Massachusetts Gov. Robert Bradford in 1948 as the New Bedford, Woods Hole, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket Steamship Authority. Regular ferry service had existed prior to that date, beginning in the early 1800s. The arrival of the Old Colony Railroad in the 1870s brought train tracks right to the wharf in Woods Hole, spearheading the growth of both the Island summer tourism industry and the boat lines, which were then privately owned.

When Allie Joseph was a little girl, she would spot mermaids while on the ferry to Martha’s Vineyard, insisting to her mother that they were there, in the depths of Vineyard Sound.

On a recent Tuesday Allie, now in college, stood with parents David and Chris and sister Nikki.

Expanding transportation services among airlines, ferries, buses and trains have made the Vineyard more accessible than ever this summer.

Four airlines are now operating summer service between the Island and three major metropolitan areas. And two months ago train service began between Boston and the Cape that connects with a shuttle to the Steamship Authority.

The public’s confidence in the Steamship Authority has improved markedly since 1987, according to polls commissioned 25 years apart by the Vineyard Gazette and conducted by a leading national market research firm.