Beaver Island Michigan

Hello. I have a comment about the high cost of traveling to and from the island via the ferry. Since the price of fuel has dropped significantly, will there be a ticket rebate instead of the usual surcharge? When my brother, sister-in-law and 2 little kids come to the island (with vehicle), it costs them almost $400 for round trip ferry expenses. Yikes! Luckily, we have an island vehicle or we wouldn't come up that often as the vehicle fare adds $200 to the cost of getting to and from the island.

Somewhere on this forum someone mentioned the Block Island ferry. The ferries are extremely similar to the Emerald Isle. The ferry run is about 20 miles ( so 30% shorter). It costs my family of 5 adults $204 to travel to Block Island with our minivan (under $200 if we come back the same day because there is a discount for same day round trip fares). A vehicle transport costs less than $50 each way. Block Island is very similar (but smaller) than Beaver Island. They have 2 lighthouses, museums, wildlife refuges, fishing charters, bike rentals, etc. Their downtown is small and has restaurants and shops. I have spent time near Point Judith for over 20 summers and I can say that the ferry has a lot of passengers!

Is there any way the BITA can try to find ways to cut costs to make the ferry fares reasonable?? Has someone already looked into this? I believe that this alone could greatly increase commerce on the island which will benefit everyone. You could possibly talk to the people that run the Block Island ferry? Rhode Islanders are wicked nice!

On a side note... one summer when I was in Rhode Island, Barbara Streisand and James Brolin got married on Block Island!

One more thing...The Block Island ferry has 2 rates: one for the regular ferry and one for the high-speed ferry...another thing to look into....

Thank you!!

For BI the proof will be in the pudding. It will be interesting to see if the boat fare for this summer will increase visits and tourism. I'll keep my eye out.

Might be good for BIBCO/BITA to have a talk with them. Might learn some cost cutting measures.

http://www.blockislandferry.com/rates/

One more thing to add to the equation...

The ferry terminal at Point Judith is a much larger piece of property than the Charlevoix terminal. I am sure they pay a lot more property taxes than the BI ferry does. So that adds to the cost of the Block Island ferry costs for sure.

For instance:
Little 1000sf oceanfront shacks on tiny lots nearby sell for over $1 million dollars and pay over 9K in property taxes. Yikes!

"The ferries are extremely similar to the Emerald Isle. The ferry run is about 20 miles ( so 30% shorter). "

Comparing Apples to Oranges.

The Block Island Ferry carries 3 times more passengers, twice as many cars and has 3 more months each year to generate revenue running a 30% shorter distance each and every trip.

Someone with a little math could calculate the efficiency of the BIBCo given these parameters and I would guess we have an extremely competitive ferry service.

Give the BIBCo three times the passengers each run, twice as many vehicles each run and knock 10 miles off the trip and let us run 12 months a year and we would see rates like the Block Island Ferry too.

If nothing more this thread proves the BIBCo, stacked up against any ferry service is the pride of the ferry fleets.

The Emerald Isle
130 in length
14.5 knots
294 passengers
20 cars
9 months of service per year

MV Block Island
208 in length
16.5 knots
1000 passengers
38 automobiles
Year round service.

I agree that the Beaver Island ferries are top-notch.The Block Island boat you mentioned is the largest of the fleet (which I am sure burns a lot more fuel than the EI!) but they have smaller vessels comparable to the Emerald Isle. Block Island and Beaver Island have so many similar characteristics. I was just starting a discussion...

BTW: "The Block Island Ferry carries 3 times more passengers, twice as many cars and has 3 more months each year to generate revenue running a 30% shorter distance each and every trip." This means their operating costs per mile are greater that the EI due to the larger vessel/crew"

But, you are missing the point of the post....I thought that it wouldn't hurt to talk to other ferry services to see how the BI ferry can cut costs to make the fare more reasonable for tourists and residents for the benefit of all.

To your point, K.A. Pike, if the ferry was more affordable we could have increased visitors to help offset the overall costs to run the ferry. In addition that would boost the tourism therefore boosting the overall Beaver Island economy.
Maybe we should look for ways to use the ferry as a tool to benefit the entire island. [/i]

pmagz...
Replies to your great question reveals there is little emphasis on any real change for the Island ..
Many of us who live in other parts of the world, who have come and supported the island for decades, have a hard time understanding this general resistance to any real change that is so prevalent...

But, PLEASE,keep asking those polite questions and things could change...
thanks again

"Little 1000sf oceanfront shacks on tiny lots nearby sell for over $1 million dollars and pay over 9K in property taxes. Yikes!"

pmagz, while the cost of the shack is not comparable, I can assure you the they have nothing on BI when it comes to property taxes.

pmagz, thanks for your post, when I first came on the Boat Company Board nearly 20 years ago I searched for comparable, successful operations similar to our ferry service and I found Block Island and talked to the President of Interstate Navigation. I encouraged the Boat Company here to seek them out to seek advice from a company that was providing service at lower cost to its customers while traversing similar distances.

In my discussions I did find areas where BIBCO's financial expenditures where above Interstate Navigations. Interstate Navigation was at that time and may still be a private company and did run and still runs a tight ship financially. http://www.independentri.com/independen ... 8590c.html

Interstate Navigation's rates are reviewed by outside governmental bodies whereas our rates here are for the most part set locally. It is truly time to find a way to bring more people to Beaver Island for this economy to dig out of a depression that is now many years in the making.

How to do this?

Does anyone know the numbers for passengers using the boat year to year to see if there is a trend?

I was chairman of the Transportation Authority for a number of years. The ferry is heavily subsidized with public money but the operation side of it is carefully guarded and controlled. There is no reason nor benefit to this, it just adds to cost. The men who founded the company in the 50's all completely agreed to no salaries for board members as it would compromise the integrity of working together to make the island grow. As Jeff states, this is only part of a decline started over 20 years ago in which the chair is protected from being given to others which would lead to fresh thinking and more community involvement.

I think the Island's Depression started on Sept 12, 2011.
Up to that point, the island was booming (a bit too much I thought).
The summer of 2000 and 2001, I remember looking around and realizing that most of the old Beaver beater cars were being replaced by shiny new pick up trucks, and you could not get a service repair man to come because they were all out at the new construction sites.
When the Country's economy stopped dead in its' tracks that Fall, so did the Island.
Later, when the Country started up again, Beaver Island never recovered.....and even now as another recession is looming world wide , the island has not seen any growth whatsoever since those halcyon days at the turn of the century.
I am not a democratic socialist, however, when the good of the populace is being hampered by private enterprise (subsidized or not) then it is time to at least "consider" some alternatives, not just stick our heads in the sand.

Good synopsis John and from a business standpoint there have been a few upticks but for the most part you are totally correct.

Interesting that this was a plan that was used to get the next boat, its forecasts are very grandiose

https://www.michigan.gov/documents/mdot ... 9749_7.pdf