Steamship Authority Board Approves Fare Increases

Everyone who travels to and from Nantucket aboard the Steamship Authority's vessels will be paying higher fares in 2026.

The Steamship Authority's (SSA) Board of Governors voted unanimously on Thursday to approve across-the-board fare increases next year to balance the SSA's $162.2 million operating budget. The boat line's expenses are slated to rise by 7.6 percent in 2026, an increase driven by the SSA's recent investments in maintenance, training, and information technology.

To cover the increased expenses, rates for standard fare vehicles, high-speed and traditional ferry passengers, vehicles over 20 feet, and excursion fares for year-round island residents will all increase by roughly 5 percent on January 1st, 20216.

While excursion fares for island residents on both Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard have remained unchanged since 2021, the Steamship Authority has raised other rates during each of the last three years, as the addition of new freight vessels, a deck officer shortage, recently-approved wage increases for staff, and a long-overdue overhaul of its IT infrastructure have all combined to raise the boat line's expenses.

A breakdown of the proposed fare increases for 2026 on the Nantucket route was presented to the board during Thursday's meeting:

Since first proposing the rate hikes in early September, the Steamship Authority has held several public hearings on the islands and the mainland. The Nantucket session drew only one attendee.

During Thursday's presentation on the fare increases, Mark Rozum, the Steamship Authority's treasurer and comptroller, explained that the only alternative to the across-the-board hikes would be to reduce service and personnel during the offseason, when the Steamship Authority operates in the red.

But Rozum and the members of the Steamship Authority's Board of Governors emphasized that such an option would be unacceptable to the island communities.

“Cutting service in our losing months of the winter would have a disastrous impact on the Islands,” said SSA chair James Malkin, the Martha's Vineyard representative on the Board of Governors.