May 8, 2006 – Overcrowding on late afternoon ferries between Cruz Bay, St. John, and Red Hook, St. Thomas, has prompted ferry companies to run additional ferries during the busy 3 to 5 p.m. hours.
Transportation Services manager Kenrick Augustus said Monday that he expects the additional ferries to be added next week. "This should alleviate the buildup in the crowds," he said.
St. John's construction boom means that the ferries are filled with construction workers who jostle for space on board with other workers and tourists, he said, adding that if the additional ferries don't solve the problem, he'll consider running ferries only for construction workers during the afternoon rush hours.
A precedent for separate ferries was set years ago when the ferry companies started running ferries for school children heading from St. John to St. Thomas at 7 a.m., the time when most school children travel.
With the current crowds on the afternoon ferries, Augustus said there have been some incidents in which the captain returned to St. John because a passenger misbehaved.
"It inconvenienced a whole lot of other people," he said.
Denise Georges, a V.I. National Park ranger who occasionally takes the ferry home to St. Thomas from her job on St. John, said the afternoon boats are packed.
"People are tired and they want to go home," she said, and they're standing in line in the sun to go through security in order to board the boats.
Lisa Durgin, a St. John vacation villa manager, said the crowds waiting to get on the ferry at Cruz Bay are often so thick that her guests getting off the ferry can't find her.
"And the gate creates a bottleneck," she said, referring to the security gate where passengers must show tickets before heading to the ferry.
Augustus said that he's ordered signs for the ferry dock to let passengers know which boat is departing and where it is going. He said he also plans to install signs listing the schedule to help tourists better understand the system.
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