June 4, 2008 — The 5:30 a.m. ferry from Red Hook, St. Thomas, to Cruz Bay is running now and has been since mid May, the attorney for the two St. John-based ferry companies said Wednesday.
Service was interrupted May 5 when Claudette Ferron, who represents Transportation Service and Varlack Ventures, announced that the companies could no longer afford to operate a route that had low ridership. (See "Extra Ferry Runs Eliminated Between Cruz Bay and Red Hook.")
Although the two ferry companies consider that run voluntary and not part of their franchise agreement with the Public Services Commission, Ferron said, the companies reinstated it to end the confusion that began when the 5:30 a.m. run was abolished.
After Ferron announced April 30 that the 5:30 a.m. run would be discontinued, the PSC and the ferry companies got into a tiff about whether the companies had the right to stop running the route. The companies agreed to resume the run again after a couple of meetings on St. Croix and St. John during May. Ferron was off island and not present for the meetings.
"The PSC is not operating in the real world," Ferron said.
PSC Director Keithley Joseph said he received a memo from Ferron, also released to the media, that outlined the ferry companies' complaints and announcement that the 5:30 a.m. ferry was running. However, he said he hadn't looked at it yet so he couldn't comment on it.
"And the 5:30 is running and that's all we care about," he said.
The ferry companies petitioned to add the 5:30 a.m. trip to their franchise but the PSC never acted on it, Ferron said, so she still considers it a voluntary run. However, operating a run that has low ridership compounds the ferry companies' already precarious financial situation, she said.
"There's been no increase in the rates since 2005, but there's been a 250 percent increase in the cost of fuel," Ferron said. She put the increase in the cost of fuel during the past year at 100 percent.
The family-owned ferry companies are taking out loans to pay operational expenses, Ferron said.
"They're operating on overdraft and loans and mortgaged up to the hilt," she said.
Additionally, the companies previously floated the cost of fuel by buying on credit, but Ferron said distributors now insist on getting paid when the fuel is delivered.
A $530,023 appropriation from the local government passed by the Legislature in December 2007 has not materialized, Ferron said. She suggested that the ferry service operate like those in other places where the government owns the ferry service but contracts with local companies to operate it. The government then subsidizes the ferry service to keep it affordable for its residents.
Tickets between Red Hook and Cruz Bay would run between $6 and $7 each way if riders paid what the trip actually cost, Ferron said. Currently one-way tickets cost $5, with discounts available for seniors, children, commuters and those traveling on bulk tickets.
Oher voluntary late-afternoon runs from Cruz Bay to Red Hook that were added last year to accommodate increased traffic might be eliminated, Ferron said.
The 5:30 a.m. trip from Red Hook to Cruz Bay, as well as the late-afternoon runs from Cruz Bay to Red Hook, were added to accommodate the increased amount of construction workers traveling between the islands. Construction on St. John is slowing, which means fewer workers are traveling to the island to work, Ferron said. Additionally, the normal seasonal slowdown in ridership is underway.
While she didn't have ridership figures for the 5:30 a.m. ferry, Joseph said a recent count showed 238 people on board.
About two million people a year use the ferry service between St. Thomas and St. John.
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