JUNEAU — Enemies of change and friends of consistency can rest easy tonight knowing that the 2017 summer ferry schedule is more or less identical to the previous year.
“There aren’t a whole lot of changes from last summer,” said Jeremy Woodrow, a spokesperson for the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities.
The Alaska Marine Highway system released its 2017 summer schedule Wednesday. According to Woodrow, the biggest change people in Southeast Alaska can expect to see is an extra day of service in Lynn Canal. Ferries will be running seven days a week through the canal, which connects Juneau to Haines and Skagway. Last year, AMHS only operated six days per week in the Lynn Canal.
The ferry system is expected to take another hit from the Alaska Legislature of 5 to 10 percent during fiscal year 2018, Woodrow said. That will likely translate to a reduction of about 10 full weeks of service in the coming year. Woodrow said the cuts are likely to have “a minimal impact” on people because AMHS will spread any reduction in service between its vessels to reduce the blow. Even with potential cuts coming down the pike, Woodrow expects that summer schedules will remain consistent.
“We’re making that difference up mainly in the shoulder seasons, so the summer schedule should be the same as people saw last year,” he said.
Fare fluctuation
One change that ferry riders should expect to see starting in May 2017 is fare fluctuation. Beginning this summer, the ferry service is implementing “the second of five planned annual tariff adjustments,” according to an AMHS press release.
Woodrow said that the tariff adjustments are “part of a five-year plan to balance fares.” At present, ferry rides of comparable length can vary in price depending on the route and the location in the state. The fare for a ferry trip from Haines to Skagway, for example, has historically been high for AMHS. The trip from Juneau to Sitka has historically been cheap compared to similar ferry trips.
In the past, AMHS hasn’t had a mechanism for establishing rates, according to Woodrow. They were often set each time a new route came online but were never adjusted later.
“They were set at different times, for different reasons, by different people each time,” Woodrow said, noting that the tariff changes are an attempt to “put some common sense into the way our fares are structured.”
Come May, this will mean an increase of $8 per person for a trip from Juneau to Sitka. Fares for a trip from Juneau to Haines will increase by $3. But a trip from Haines to Skagway — the traditionally spendy trip — will not cost any more than it does currently.
