The Ferry Dilema

Still on the tablet so still using old photos and typing with one finger. 🙂

It’s raining and supposed to stay wet for days. Well, except for the snow expected Saturday night. Ugh I have no words …

I had to make another trip upriver yesterday to do errands for people who can’t get there. This made me think about a few things and so a post was born.

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Travel across the border is limited to “essential” reasons. So, no, tourism isn’t permitted and you can’t just go have a cup of coffee. It gets murkier depending on the understanding/mood of the person on duty.

We have no gas station or bank and the agreement reached by various governments is that we can travel to Maine when necessary.

There is no way to get to the rest of Canada unless somebody takes you in their boat (which is happening for a few who can’t/don’t want to enter the States). This means a trip to the mainland involves driving an hour each way through Maine.

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The Border personnel have a tough job and, in general, things are going smoothly. There are one or two who stick their heads in your car to check your gas gauge to decide if you really need gas.

One guy was informed he was allowed to drive through Maine to get his gas in St Stephen but not allowed to purchase it locally. Another was told banking isn’t considered essential because you can do it online. I can’t even begin to estimate the number of residents without computers or email or online banking.

Word is that the seasonal private ferry might start up in a few weeks. This should be good news. However there are a few niggling worries.

I don’t know what they will charge us to take the trip. It was $20 per car each way plus more for each passenger. That is higher than the cost of fuel to drive through Maine. It takes almost as long to get to the mainland and then you still have to make your way to the town you want.

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That ferry charge was established at a time when the majority of traffic consisted of tourists. I don’t think it’s likely, or even desirable, for them to come this year. No matter what though, we will get more people coming than we do now which doesn’t seem like a good idea.

The Ferry operator would need to make some money and our population won’t sustain him at the old price. It’s already expensive so unless the Government subsidizes the route it may not be affordable.

The big worry is that the Border will just shut completely if we have another available way off the Island. So yay! We’d have a ferry which costs a lot, bringing more people here we might not want, and it would be the only option we’d have.

Nothing is simple. 🙂