Steamship Authority Proposes Another Rate Increase To Balance Budget

The Steamship Authority (SSA) is proposing across-the-board fare increases for 2026 to cover its investments in maintenance, training, and information technology that are driving a 7.6 percent increase in expenses. The proposed rate hikes were unveiled Tuesday morning during a SSA Port Council meeting.

Rates for standard fare vehicles, high-speed and traditional ferry passengers, vehicles over 20 feet, and excursion fares for year-round island residents would all increase by roughly 5 percent under the plan presented by Mark Rozum, the Steamship's treasurer and comptroller. Those rate hikes are necessary to balance the Steamship's $162.2 million operating budget, he said.

"The excursion fares with both islands have not been adjusted since 2021, that accounts for 7 percent of the overall fare adjustment," Rozum told the Port Council on Tuesday. But the Steamship Authority has raised other rates during each of the last three years, as the addition of new 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 council during the meeting:

Much of Tuesday's discussion centered around the proposed increases to the excursion fares for both Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, which provide discounted rates for year-round island residents taking their vehicles to and from the islands. Those cheaper fares are subsidized by standard fare purchases, Rozum said, even as the revenue from that segment of the Steamship Authority's revenue is declining.

The proposed increases to the excursion fares have prompted a firestorm on Martha's Vineyard.

Rozum told the Port Council that the Steamship Authority would be looking at whether to tighten the criteria to qualify for the excursion program, including potentially requiring people to prove they are a registered voter of Nantucket or Martha's Vineyard. The boat line will also be looking at whether businesses are taking advantage of the discounted rates that are meant to support individual island residents and families, not subsidize companies.

"In addition to those qualifications, we understand the importance of this program," he said. "We want to make sure this program is done how it was originally intended: to help the year-round islanders take care of the necessities of life - go to visit their family, go to medical appointments, go to other appointments they may have, go to schools, kids' events, things of that nature. The necessities of life, not to subsidize a business, not to go see a secondary home. But it's really meant for year-round residents who have that extra, I won't say, burden, but the extra travel logistics that we don't have in the mainland."

Using Martha's Vineyard as an example, Rozum said a small number of customers are using a significant percentage of the Steamship's deck space for excursion trips.

"We have people that are using it over 200 times a year," he said. "That's not what the excursion rate was intended to do. Again, we understand the importance. We want to make changes to preserve rates from year-round island residents."