The Alaska Marine Highway System released its 2021-2022 winter schedule on Thursday. The AMHS winter schedule covers ferry travel from October 2021 through April 2022. The release of the 2021-2022 winter schedule followed a public comment period held in July. The comment period was an opportunity for communities and individuals to review and comment on the proposed schedule and alert AMHS to significant community events.
Sam Dapcevich with the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities spoke with KSRM:
“We just finished up on public review for our winter 2021-22 ferry schedule. What’s new about this in the past, we always would take review at some point in the winter of a draft schedule for the summer. Now we’re able to push that up and release a full year’s schedule once this is adopted and finalized, which would allow for travelers to book way further in advance and it will allow for better scheduling of our maintenance on the ships and more reliability for businesses to plan around the schedule. What allowed this was Gov. Dunleavy forward funded the ferry system by 18-months and there was an increase to the ferry system budget by over $8 million. That is a big improvement, we believe.”
The operating plan is designed to meet community service needs and maintain regulatory and safety standards for the vessels. Dapcevich said:
“As of right now, it’s based on the funding levels. I think it’s pretty similar to last year’s level of service. I think there are some additional weeks of service in the schedule. The locations haven’t changed. It’s still the same locations that we serve, but we did leave the possibility of adding the Columbia into service next summer.”
The proposed summer 2022 operating plan is currently out for public review and written comments will be accepted through August 31, 2021. AMHS accepts comments and suggestions at any time by email at [email protected].
