Scheduled to make pick-ups on both Islesford and Great Cranberry, the commuter boat will arrive in Northeast Harbor around 7 a.m. To avoid competition with the extended summer schedule of the Beal and Bunker mailboat, the new ferry didn’t start its late afternoon run until mid-October. The commuter contract is being split between two companies, with Karl Brunner’s Quietside Cruises and MDI Water Taxi handling the runs through mid-October and Steve Pagel’s Cranberry Cove Ferry running the rest of the winter. Cranberry Cove also runs a seasonal ferry to Manset and Southwest Harbor.
Ridership has varied from three to eight passengers at a time, which is slightly below projections of 8-10 passengers per trip, according to the town facilities supervisor Eric Dyer. “I’m pleased with the ridership. It’s still brand new,” he says. Katy Morse Fernald, an Islesford resident who co-chaired the Transportation Committee that helped plan the pilot and who has been riding the ferry regularly since it began, has seen a good mix of users. “There’s some teachers, a student, other people who work part-time on MDI. And then there’s people who have to catch a plane or who have early appointments, because they can now come back on the [mailboat’s regular] 11 o’clock. It’s wonderful to not have to spend all day off-island for a dentist appointment.”
The ferry costs $6 for island residents, equivalent to the prices paid for the other ferry services, and $8 for non-residents. Trips taken by students are paid for by the school department. The service is being subsidized by a mix of town and anticipated state funds, according to Dyer. The two operators are guaranteed revenue; Brunner’s contract with the town sets a minimal baseline per run. If fares add up below that rate, the town will offset the loss. Pagel has a fixed contract price with the town. Any fee revenue above the fixed price will be kept by the operators. The subsidy amounts were approved at the town meeting up to $46,000 and Dyer anticipates that at least $11,000 of this will be covered by state transportation funds. Ferry operators are tracking ridership levels and the town will reassess the success of pilot at the March 2011 town meeting.
The long-term hope is that the availability of year-round commuting will help boost island population by opening up island residency to more off-island workers. However, for right now, at minimum the service is allowing current, part-time residents to extend their stay. Fernald is one such rider. A teacher at Mount Desert Island High School, she usually moves to a home that her family owns on Mount Desert Island at the start of the school year. This year she stayed on Islesford until mid-October. Concerns about possible weather cancellations as winter approaches keep her from committing to staying on the island all year, but she plans to spend more time on Islesford than she has before. “At least now,” she says, “I have the option.”