Steamship Authority GM On Its New Reservation System

To the editor: As many of you know, the Steamship Authority is implementing a new reservation system as part of its True North Initiative and in partnership with E-Dea, a leading global ferry reservation provider. We appreciate the thoughtful feedback shared through town halls, emails, and conversations, all of which continues to inform this work.

In response to common questions, we would like to clarify the following:

• Medical travel remains a top priority. Supporting medically necessary travel is central to the Authority’s mission, and the new system will help us better identify and prioritize these needs.
• Waitlists and standby will continue. Customers will be able to use E-Dea’s functionality to get a standby ticket on a full trip and try to find space on other trips near that sailing time. We’re working hard with E-Dea to customize that functionality to suit the needs of our customers.
• Same-day flexibility remains. Customers with a reservation (or a standby ticket) may waitlist for earlier or later sailings the same day and continue to seek improved times if matched.
• Preferred space is preserved. The seven-day and one-day preferred booking windows, plus the 30-day preferred window offered in the summer, will remain in place.
• Resident standby programs will continue. The Blue Line on the Vineyard route and drive-on/drive-off and standby services on the Nantucket route will be updated to function within the new system, with similar functionality to today’s programs. .

We recognize that change to an essential service can be challenging. Our goal is to preserve the services residents rely on while delivering a more reliable, secure, and user-friendly system for the future.

If you weren’t able to join our information sessions this week, please visit www.steamshipauthority.com/TrueNorth to view recordings and to get more information on the project as a whole.

Alex Kryska
General Manager, Steamship Authority