The 2017 schedule for the Alaska Marine Highway System was released Wednesday, with no changes to routes but adjustments in fees.
Jeremy Woodrow with the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities says next summer’s ferry schedule is very similar to last summer’s.
Woodrow: “When we talk about southcentral travelers we’re talking about sailing in Prince William Sound or sailing from Homer to Kodiak or out the Aleutian Chain. We’ll still have the Tustumena running to Kodiak, we’ll still have the Kennicot filling in running to Kodiak when the Tustumena goes out the chain and we’ll still have one ferry operating in Prince William Sound as we had this last summer.”
As for fees, Woodrow says the Department is working to balance fees throughout the marine highway system based on distance.
Woodrow: “Similar distance routes in Prince William Sound are sometimes higher or lower than similar distance routes in southeast Alaska. What we’re trying to do is bring those together so that what you pay for is what you get no matter where you are in the system. So what we’re trying to do over the course of five years is adjust those routes and by doing that some of those routes are going to become more expensive and some of those routes are going to decrease.”
He says a good example of that in Prince William Sound is the fares from Cordova to Whittier will go up by $3 per passenger, but fares from Cordova to Valdez it’s actually going to go down by $1 per passenger.
These adjustments are the second of five planned annual tariff adjustments that will go into effect May 1, 2017.
Woodrow says reservations are available for booking online and recommends that Alaskans make those as early as possible.
