Maine State Ferry Service terminal in Rockland. (Emma Davis/ Maine Morning Star)
After a frustrating summer of frequent cancellations for some islanders, the Maine State Ferry Service is considering a fare increase that, if adopted, would likely affect all fares on all lines.
Although the Maine Department of Transportation said reliability has improved in recent months, it still expects to need an additional $2 million for ferry operations, which includes employee pay and new positions. The department said it will monitor its finances in the coming months, but it could require another 15% fare hike next June.
This comes after the department raised fares by about 18% in August. It was the first increase in five years.
Operating costs for the ferry service are split evenly between passengers and Maine DOT, so the fare increase would need to account for $1 million of the needed funds. State taxpayers would contribute the other million.
“Islands are one of the treasures of Maine,” said state Rep. Valli Geiger (D-Rockland), whose district includes several midcoast islands including North Haven and Matinicus Isle Plantation.
Geiger said she is “concerned about the rapid increase in rates because of what it means for year round families on the island.” She thinks of the young families she has seen filling the pizzeria on North Haven and what a fare increase means for them on top of already high prices for housing, food and other basic supplies.
For a family with two adults and two kids in the backseat, Geiger said, “You’re looking at a lot of money for a trip to the mainland.”
To get from Rockland to North Haven, the current fare for a car, including a driver, is $36.50. That goes up to $48.50 in peak season and doesn’t include the cost of other car passengers. Children under 5 are free, but otherwise cost $7 in the off-season and $13.25 in the summer months.
Geiger also said she feels there ought to be a larger conversation about how the state and the Maine DOT can support the islands as viable year-round communities.
“We don’t look at little dying mill towns and say, ‘Oh, should we continue to pave their roads?’” she said. “Islands are part of our community, they’re part of our state and the ferry is the highway.”
Peter Drury, a Vinalhaven resident and retired captain with the Maine State Ferry Service, said the back-to-back increases are startling for the island communities.
Rather than increasing fares across the board, Drury said he’d like to see the department deploy other solutions to generate revenue. He suggested changes to the reservation policy to account for trucks who may take an earlier boat than they originally reserved or raising certain fares in the summertime when there is more demand.
“Let’s take advantage of the fact that it’s such a tourist draw, but let’s figure out how to make that work for the islands and work for people who want to go see an island,” Geiger said.
Improved ferry reliability
At a Maine State Ferry Advisory Board meeting earlier this month, Commissioner of the Maine Department of Transportation Bruce Van Note said reliability of the line between Rockland and Vinalhaven improved to nearly 99% in September after reaching a low of just under 82% in June.
For the entire year, the four Maine State Ferry lines have an overall reliability of nearly 98%. The Vinalhaven line is the lowest with an overall reliability of 93% — due to the challenges from April to June — but the other three are near 99% or higher.
In June, there were three boats down and persistent staffing issues, the department explained at the meeting. However, fewer boats were canceled starting in July because the state began contracting with an outside staffing agency to bring on more crew members.
Two boats on the Vinalhaven line were canceled because of crew shortages on Oct. 2 and 3, but there has not been another since, according to the ferry service’s Facebook page, which posts all cancellations.
Vinalhaven resident Richard Carlsen said he and other island residents rely on that page for updates, especially during the summer months.
Cars wait in line to board the ferry to Vinalhaven. (Emma Davis/ Maine Morning Star)
A quarter of crew positions vacant
Carlsen said he wouldn’t mind paying more if the additional money goes toward paying the crews. Though Carlsen can get back and forth from the mainland with his fishing boat if he needs to, he echoed concerns expressed earlier this summer of residents missing medical appointments because of canceled boats.
“Most of the times that we don’t have a boat is because the crew’s short, so sometimes you got to make incentives for people that want to work,” he said of the potential fare bump.
Data shared at the Oct. 10 meeting showed that more than a quarter of crew positions were vacant. However, the department said there were a few pending offers and that it is regularly interviewing potential new hires.
“We need more bodies,” Van Note said when explaining the thin margin between the number of crew members required to be on each boat and actual number on staff.
If the department could fill crew positions and increase its headcount, Van Note said the state may not need to use an outside contractor to provide crew members. But to do that, he said, “we need to get beyond the state we are in.”
Carlsen, who is an EMT on Vinalhaven, said he wonders if it’s a matter of not enough people or not enough pay. Workers have said they can make more money crewing ferries elsewhere, so there’s little incentive to stay and work in Maine.
During the meeting, Van Note said crew salaries have increased more than half a dozen times since 2019 and noted the addition of stipends in late 2022. There have also been multiple one-time incentive payments and increases to per diem allowances over the past few years.
In July, leaders from six island communities voiced those concerns when they asked Gov. Janet Mills to address the unreliable ferry service. In the letter, they attributed the canceled boats to challenges with hiring and retaining crew members due to low pay and U.S. Coast Guard licensing requirements.
After that letter, Maine DOT implemented a new incentive program providing up to $4,000 in bonus pay and increased overtime for ferry crews, but employees and union leaders feared the additional compensation would come at a cost to workers’ other benefits.
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