ROCKLAND — Proposed changes to longtime parking policies at the Maine State Ferry Terminal in Rockland have islanders worried that their longtime methods for ensuring a ride back home on the ferry will be eliminated. A petition is now circulating asking the Maine Department of Transportation, and the Governor, to withdraw policy memorandum 205, which, as one Vinalhaven resident suggested, will lead to only more lost tempers in the parking lot.

“I don’t recall anything that has stirred up so much angst on the islands in a long time,” said North Haven resident Lisa Shields, who is also an island representative sitting on the Maine State Ferry Service Advisory Board.

The board meets periodically with the DOT representatives about the ferries of Penobscot Bay and to Swans Island.

The parking issue at the Rockland terminal has been under discussion since January when it was acknowledged that increased traffic in the summer results in congestion. The DOT opened the conversation to suggestions and ideas on how to resolve the parking problems, and minutes from the January advisory board meeting said: “Policies need to be in place before the summer season so line attendants have manageable and enforceable rules.”

Earlier this month, new rules were drafted, and since then, emails have been flying and the phone lines have been hot with complaints about the proposed line policy rules. 

See attached PDF for the draft document.

On May 20, John Anders, manager of the Rockland terminal, recognized the anxiety that the draft rules had caused.

“We apologize for any confusion and stress surrounding the proposed changes to the lineup procedures,” he wrote. “An implementation date will not be set until we have allowed a sufficient amount of time for public comment and have beneficial adjustments that minimize negative impacts.  Our goal early on in communicating with the Ferry Service Advisory Board was to obtain public feedback, which we will continue to do.  We certainly value the concerns everyone has presented to date and will continue to place a strong emphasis on meeting the needs of the customers we serve.  We welcome your concerns, suggestions for continued improvement, and appreciate your patience through this process.”

From Rockland, ferries  criss-cross Penobscot Bay daily to Vinalhaven and North Haven, and less frequently to Matinicus. Vinalhaven and North Haven are larger islands in the middle of the bay — 1,200 residents on Vinalhaven and 375 on North Haven, with another 3,000 to 4,000 in the summer.

The ferries are the transportation lifeline for island residents, who make the hour-plus ride to the mainland, some daily for work, others for medical appointments in the Midcoast, Bangor or Portland, and some to get to school and college. From the mainland, contractors use the ferry to get to the islands for work, and freight trucks make regular runs with cargo.

The Rockland Terminal is the hub where all that traffic converges and over the decades the ferry business has gotten busier but the space has not grown. Drivers positioning to get vehicles in line for the ferries intersect paths with vehicles picking up and dropping off passengers at the terminal building, or parking in the parking lot, or turning into a nearby boat yard.

The DOT had installed an automatic parking fee kiosk last year and concluded that besides working well, it saves on the cost of having employees in the parking lot. The kiosk, the DOT said, “collects a larger percentage of the parking revenue that supports the Ferry Service (helping to keep pressure off ticket prices).”

However, it has contributed to congestion. Formerly, overflow traffic on busy days was led into the parking lot through the area that the parking kiosk now occupies.  

The congestion issue prompted the DOT to draft its parking changes, and with them, a proposed new line-up policy that, if effected, would prohibit the use of line cars or substitute vehicles. Vehicles of violators would be towed, regardless of the time of year, the draft said.

That was the tipping point for the islanders.

When residents of North Haven and Vinalhaven visit the mainland, they have a limited amount of time to do errands and meet appointments. Their days are strategically planned around making the ferry back home. Usually, that is the last ferry, which, for North Haven, leaves Rockland at 5:15 p.m. To ensure a spot on the boat, islanders often leave either a “line car” behind (second cars that they keep on the mainland), and they may hire someone to move their line cars into place during the day.

The new rules prohibit such a practice, and call for mandatory presence in line waiting for the ferry at least one half-hour ahead of its departure.

“Believe it or not, that’s huge,” said Shields.

Using a line car or a substitute car for holding one’s place in line is a significant reassurance for islanders trying to manage their days while on the mainland, said Shields.

“It is knowledge that if you are caught in traffic, you know you have a car there and that you are going to get on the ferry,” she said. “The outrage did not have just to do with taking away the ability to leave a car in line but also that you could not use a substitute car as a line-up car.”

The petition (see photo to the right) circulating on Vinalhaven asks for Memo 205 to be scrapped. The petition says: “Vehicles may not line up for a departure later than the next one without permission from the line attendant. Movement of goods or people, including the driver, in and out of vehicles anytime during the period 30 minutes prior to departure is forbidden. (Although unlikely, it means if your kid has to use the bathroom he may not get back in the car.)”

On May 16, Vinalhaven resident and business owner Phil Crossman, who has been a member of the ferry advisory board in years past, wrote to Anders:

“I submit that structuring a draft that speaks so forcefully and so often about our vehicles being towed is a hostile and unproductive tack to take. The notion that every time a vehicle is perceived (and much of what is proposed is subject to perception) to be in violation it will be towed away flies in the face of ‘serving islanders and the public’ which is what the Maine State Ferry Service is supposedly all about.”

Crossman said: “Many of us keep cars in the Rockland lot to accomplish precisely that which you propose to make an offense.  We schedule our mainland errands so we can return to departing ferries and move vehicles up in line as necessary to ensure we are able to swap cars and get on whichever ferry we’d intended.  We have evolved this procedure to accommodate existing rules and it makes perfect sense to have done that.

“To suggest that a busy island mother with a kid or two in tow, or an elderly island resident — or anyone else for that matter — trying to make an afternoon doctor’s appointment will be unable to do what we have done for years but instead must take her chances by rushing to the last boat only to find she was too far back in line, can’t take her car out of line and put a substitute in its place, but must instead leave her car in line for the first boat the next day, take a cab to a motel, get up early and hope to get a cab to the first boat hoping again to get on  the departing ferry is not a good example of how to ‘serve the island people’ which was precisely and accurately what you told me was your first priority during our meeting a couple of months ago.

“Neither is suggesting that a busy island contractor cannot come to the mainland and put his mainland vehicle in line while he dashes off to Augusta or Bangor for some particular piece of material or equipment, then return swap vehicles and get on the ferry in time to be back on the job the next day, but must rather take his chances, chances that will in every likelihood, particularly during the summer, leave him overnight and upset.  The occasional lost temper is an issue today.  If this proposal passes it will become the norm.

“Neither is suggesting that Pen Bay Glass, or Interstate Septic, or Island Concrete, or Penobscot Air or any of the many other businesses that serve the island cannot put a vehicle in line to hold a space for a crew intending to come out to the island for a day’s work on the first ferry but that the entire crew (and they may have come some distance) must sit in line until they can board, increasing costs to islanders enormously.

“Neither is suggesting that those who choose to come to the mainland to shop for perishables cannot be assured of making it back the same day.

“Neither is, well, while I am tempted to go on....

 “I understand the frustration that may have led to this draft proposal.  I understand the danger that is presented by cars moving in and out of line at the same time that vehicles are coming and going from Knights or the taxi stand, or by big buses exiting the terminal but crossing the line of vehicles boarding the ferry, and by folks who got off the ferry that just arrived who have by now picked up their mainland car and are eager to get on the road and who are now presenting the same danger as they intersect with vehicles driving on to the ferry.  A better alternative exists.

“I understand too that now, with the mechanical parking arm, there is no room for extended Vinalhaven ferry line that is otherwise unavoidable  during the summer.  Again a better solution exists.

“Lost tempers are now and then an issue at the terminal.  If this proposal is adopted that frame of mind will be the rule rather than the exception.

“This is a good time to remind ourselves of the Maine Department of Transportation’ stated goals which are to 1) Effectively Manage the Existing System, 2) Support Economic Opportunity and 3) Build Trust.  This proposal does none of those things.  Instead it is counter to those goals, particularly the last two.

“I hope you will give this proposal a great deal more thought and extend the period for public comment till the first week in June.”

In response, Anders said in his May 20 letter: “Our goal is to identify safer and more efficient ways of doing business. The draft was distributed not only to solicit your opinions of the proposed changes, but specifically to invite your ideas and suggestions for the elimination of vacant vehicles that occupy the limited space that exists in the lineup. We know making changes to the lineup to reduce overflow demand is going to be challenging and has been a topic of discussion at our bi-monthly MSFS Advisory Board meetings since January. At the most recent meeting on May 8, we distributed a draft of proposed changes and asked the board members to take it back to their communities and solicit feedback.  The MSFS is requesting any feedback concerning this proposal by June 13.

“So far, we’ve gotten a lot of feedback, but the vast majority of it focuses on why the changes we’re considering won’t work with very few suggested changes that would help. Based on responses to date, it is very clear that the primary concern is that the removal of line cars will reduce confidence that an island resident will be able to make it home by the end of the day after a trip to the mainland.

There are three objectives we have for the lineup changes.  We want it to: 

• be more efficient;
• be more safe; and;
• reduce vehicle overflow;

while continuing to meet our customers’ needs.

“We have a responsibility for our operation to be safe for both our customers and our employees. Some of the proposed changes strive to reduce the potential conflicts between pedestrians and vehicles (like asking people to be in their cars earlier and reducing the swapping of vehicles in and out of line).

“We apologize for any confusion and stress surrounding the proposed changes to the lineup procedures.  An implementation date will not be set until we have allowed a sufficient amount of time for public comment and have beneficial adjustments that minimize negative impacts.  Our goal early on in communicating with the Ferry Service Advisory Board was to obtain public feedback, which we will continue to do.  We certainly value the concerns everyone has presented to date and will continue to place a strong emphasis on meeting the needs of the customers we serve.  We welcome your concerns, suggestions for continued improvement, and appreciate your patience through this process.”

Editorial Director Lynda Clancy can be reached at lyndaclancy@penbaypilot.com; 207-706-6657