PSC responds to demands from ferry operators

[Anthony]

From the Daily News:

"ST. THOMAS - Government officials on Friday said they are committed to protecting inter-island marine transportation in the territory, while the V.I. Public Services Commission fired off a letter telling St. Thomas-St. John franchise ferryboat operators it expects them to continue to provide services as scheduled.

Those developments came after St. Thomas-St. John ferry franchise operators notified government officials on Thursday that effective immediately, they will no longer subsidize the service out their own pockets - and said that they expect to have to significantly curtail services "within days" as a result.

Claudette Ferron, the attorney representing the companies operating the public transportation route between the two islands, told The Daily News on Thursday that the owners have for years poured their own money into the operation to keep it afloat, but they can no longer afford to do so."

http://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/i ... d=17617105

[Carmen]

The ferry fares STT-STJ have been going up in tandem with higher energy costs. Traffic has also increased and it will continue to do so as the two huge rental condos, Grande Bay and Sirenusa are inaugurated. However, the heads or washrooms in the ferries are still pretty bad, and they still cancel trips without previus notice, putting STJ to STT passangers with airplanes to catch at risk of losing their flights.
What I see is a great business that may be mismanaged. The USVI government should do a traffic audit before they give more subsidies to the ferry companies.

[DiverDonn]

This may be a silly question, but does this issue include rhe car barge service, or just the passenger ferries?
DD

[djmom]

This is just a response by the government, not a resolution to the problem, right? Just still trying to figure if the ferry might stop running next week....