'Commuter service' designation for Steamship Authority route opens up federal funds

The Woods Hole, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket Steamship Authority route from Hyannis to Nantucket will now be permanently recognized by the Federal Transit Administration as a “commuter service,” U.S. Rep. Bill Keating, D-9th, announced Wednesday. The announcement grants the Steamship Authority a share of more than $5 million annually that would have otherwise been unavailable to the agency.

A Federal Transit Administration decision earlier this year sought to deny the Steamship Authority its previously held “commuter service” status, Keating said in a Wednesday interview with the Times. But he said after collecting ferry service ridership data in collaboration with the Cape Cod Commission, the decision was reversed.

“We interceded," Keating said.

The Federal Transit Administration was wrong in their decision, Keating said, adding that the Steamship Authority is now looking at a permanent source of annual federal funding. “In the foreseeable future, that is going to continue, and as ridership goes up it will even grow. It’s a major source of income.”

What is the Steamship Authority?

The Steamship Authority is a ferry operating service that provides trips to and from the Cape to Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard for passengers as well as vehicles — from cars to large freight-carrying trucks. The state Legislature created the Steamship Authority in 1960 to provide for “adequate transportation of persons and necessaries of life for the Islands of Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard.”

Around 2.9 million passengers used the ferry service in 2022, according to the latest annual report.

A percentage of the $5 million annual funding will be available

Not all of the $5 million in Federal Transit Administration funding will be designated for the Steamship Authority, said Steamship Authority Communications Director Sean Driscoll. He said a percentage of the total federal dollar amount will be distributed to the Authority.

“As a self-funded agency, every dollar we spend is generated from our ridership,” Driscoll said. “So anything we can do to offset the burden on the ridership, the lower we can keep our fares.”

Keating said the Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority played an integral role in securing the federal money. Authority.

The Transit Authority, based in Hyannis, is one of 15 regional transit authorities in Massachusetts and provides public transportation to all 15 Cape Cod communities.

Approval of commuter service status, then reversal in 2020

Thomas Cahir, general administrator for the Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority, said the agency approached the Federal Transit Administration six years ago to inquire about the possibility of classifying Steamship Authority ferries as a commuter service — a move that, at the time, was unprecedented.

“We were making the case pretty aggressively, and at the last minute we elicited the support of Congressman Keating,” Cahir said in a phone interview. “At that time, he met with them and (the Federal Transit Administration) determined that, yes, it does qualify as a commuter service.”

Then, in April 2020, the commuter status of the Steamship Authority was in jeopardy, as the Federal Transit Administration announced its intention to declassify the Authority as a commuter service. But in collaboration with the Cape Cod Commission, Cahir said the Regional Transit Authority was able to collect the necessary data to make the case that the Steamship Authority was a commuter service.

Cape Cod Commission collects data

The Cape Cod Commission was pleased to support the collaborative effort to preserve critical funding, Commission Deputy Director Steve Tupper said in an email.

The commission provided an intensive data collection process over the past five years, with support and cooperation of the Steamship Authority, Hy-Line Ferries, a private ferry service, and the Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority, Tupper said.

"The results from over 35,000 passenger interviews were always clear, and we are pleased our federal partners recognized the significance of the findings given the unique nature of these routes, he said.

The commuter status allows for long-term planning

Keating said the permanent status of the continuing federal funds allows the Authority to plan for the long term, servicing the needs of a growing workforce on Nantucket who depend on Steamship Authority ferries for transportation.

One of the reasons ridership has risen so dramatically is the dependency that island businesses have on people being transported to the islands to work because they can't afford the housing, Keating said.

"So, this is really not just for tourism alone, it's all economic activity,” he said.

It can't be lost that ferries are the lifeline for the islands, Keating said.

Walker Armstrong reports on all things transportation and the Joint Base Cape Cod military base. Contact him at WArmstrong@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter: @jd__walker.

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Commuters use Hyannis to Nantucket Steamship Authority ferry, in data