Meeting with HITA 11/5/21

A HITA representative met with Jake Bryson on November 5th to talk about the proposed ferry rates and islander’s frustration about the service. Here are the takeaways from that meeting.

  • There is a proposal to Michigan State police for a ferry rate increase. The decision will be on or about November 13th. 
  • The justification for the rate increase is for the cost of inflation and for higher wages for deckhands and ferry captains. They are having difficulty recruiting both deckhands and ferry captains.
  • The rate increase will be effective January 1, 2022.
  • The full ferry rate will be $15.00 per round trip. This represents a $3.00 per ticket increase or a 25% increase.
  • A book of tickets will increase $1.00 per ticket ($200.00 for a book of 20 tickets). This represents a 11% increase.
  • The motorcycle/moped rate will increase by $1.00 per round trip.
  • We did talk about the erratic ferry hours and the backups the users of the ferry are experiencing. Again Jake indicated they want to provide a consistent ferry schedule but that is difficult until they hire more staff.