Yarmouth-To-Maine Ferry Operating Well Below Maximum Capacity
YARMOUTH—Amid resistence from Bay Ferries Limited, the provincial government has released new data that show how many people are using the CAT ferry service from Yarmouth to Maine.
The figures show that, between May 19 and June 16, a total of 2,888 passengers and 1,323 vehicles made a trip on the CAT ferry from Bar Harbour to Yarmouth. Over that time, the ferry ran on 16 days.
The CAT has a capacity of 200 cars and 866 passengers per trip. That means if it ran at full capacity each of those 16 days, it could have taken a total of 3,200 cars and 13,586 passengers to Yarmouth.
In 2018, the last full season the CAT ran, a total of 50,185 passengers used the service over the full season.
The 2022 ridership details come after reporters pressed the province’s Public Works Minister last week for information on use of the ferry.
In a statement, Kim Masland said the government has asked Bay Ferries to provide daily updates on its website going forward, but the operator has declined.
Bay Ferries and the provincial government signed a 10-year contract on March 31, 2018. Under that contract, Bay Ferries is the manager and operator of this service and is responsible for marketing the ferry, selling tickets and, as Masland said in her statement, “ultimately, whether the service is a success or failure.”
“Our government feels very strongly that Bay Ferries owes it to Nova Scotians to be fully transparent about how the service is performing. We have requested that the operator provide daily updates on its website going forward, but the operator has declined. This is why we are providing these numbers directly today. If Bay Ferries will not be fully transparent, we certainly will be,” Masland said.
Before he was elected premier, Tim Houston was critical of Bay Ferries. He argued the province spent too much on the ferry for too little return.
His party even sued Bay Ferries to publicly disclose how much money in management fees it receives from the provincial government. He won, and Bay Ferries revealed the province had been paying it close to $100,000 a month in fees since 2016.
According to the CBC, the provincial government gave $32 million in subsidies to the ferry between 2015 and 2019.
Meanwhile, a great deal of work was done in Yarmouth to make sure the ferry service was ready to resume in 2022. Phase One of renovations to the Yarmouth International Ferry Terminal was completed last year.
The $9.7-million upgrade was made possible by contributions from the municipal, provincial, and federal governments.
The feds and the province each ponied up $3 million, while the Town of Yarmouth, the Municipality of Yarmouth, and the Municipality of Argyle put in the rest.
Local politicians and businesses say the ferry is vital to the region’s tourism economy.
“People that travel on the ferry spend twice as much, on average, as people driving in or coming to our province by plane,” Yarmouth MLA Zach Churchill said when the ferry began running this season.
He claimed there is about $70 million worth of tourism economy in southwestern Nova Scotia alone.
Skye Bryden-Blom is a reporter with CKHZ 103.5 in Halifax, a Huddle content partner. With files from Kevin Northup.