With St. John’s winter tourism heating up and the busy holiday season just a few weeks away, some St. John residents launched a campaign to get the Public Services Commission to reconsider its Nov. 23 decision to cut two night ferry runs in each direction between Cruz Bay, St. John and Red Hook, St. Thomas until Dec. 31. The PSC also agreed in November to allow the ferry companies to reduce runs between Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, and Cruz Bay.
"It’s a huge inconvenience," said Kate Norfleet, who serves as the St. John representative on the St. Thomas/St. John Chamber of Commerce. "It will deter people from visiting the island during the holidays."
According to Claudette Ferron, the St. Thomas attorney who represents Transportation Services and Varlack Ventures, until Dec. 31, the 9 p.m. and 11 p.m. runs from Red Hook to Cruz Bay and the 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. runs from Cruz Bay to Red Hook were eliminated.
The PSC also implemented a new schedule for trips between Charlotte Amalie and Cruz Bay. It begins Dec. 13 and will run until July 15, 2010. The ferries will leave Charlotte Amalie at 10 a.m., 1 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. They depart Cruz Bay at 8:45 a.m., 11:15 a.m. and 3:45 p.m.
Norfleet was bothered by the elimination of the 7:15 a.m. trip from Cruz Bay to Charlotte Amalie. Students attending All Saints School and people who work in Charlotte Amalie used that ferry.
"I don’t understand the logistics of getting rid of that one in particular," Norfleet said.
Norfleet said the elimination of the two nighttime trips from Red Hook to Cruz Bay were problematic for visitors who will now have to sit at the Red Hook ferry terminal for several hours waiting for a ferry. She pointed out that if travelers miss the ferry by just a few minutes, they’ll have to wait for almost two hours for the next ferry to depart. She said that wait comes on top of an already long travel day.
Jose Penn, who operates a family-owned car rental business, said that the ferry schedule reduction has a big economic impact.
"For the economy to work, you have to have movement," he said.
Like Norfleet, he said he want the visitor’s experience to be as pleasant as possible. As a businessman, he said he sees the economic issues facing the two ferry companies that makes the trips, Transportation Services and Varlack Ventures, but said there has to be a way to make the ferry route work for visitors, residents and the ferry companies.
"You have to look at the numbers," he said.
Both Penn, Norfleet and Lorelei Monsanto of the Unity Day Group wondered why with the recent fare increases, the PSC allowed the ferry companies to cut runs.
"It’s making it inconvenient for ourselves as well as guests," Monsanto said.
St. John Community Foundation Director Paul Devine fears that the reduced schedule will continue into 2010.
"What has been forgotten here is that this is a public transportation service which people rely on for income, convenience and lifestyle," he said.
PSC Director Keithley Joseph declined to comment on the issue.
