Ferry Building Opens to Riders

By Adam Swift

The increase in traffic from the Sumner Tunnel closure this summer has gone about as expected, but there is some good news on that front, according to Town Council President James Letterie.

“Traffic has still been horrendous (getting into Boston), not that that’s our fault,” said Letterie. “The good news is that there’s only a couple of weeks left, the bad news is now colleges are opening up and kids are coming in from across the country to come into Boston, and it’s just going to create more traffic.”

The full-time closure of the Sumner Tunnel for repairs ends at the end of August.

Letterie did thank the MBTA for its efforts in making the commute into Boston earlier this summer with free ridership on the Blue Line and other mitigation efforts.

“I’ve used the T more in the last three weeks than I have probably in the last 20 years,” said Letterie. “It’s clean, it’s free, and you feel safe on it. I’m not on it late at night, so I don’t know that, but at normal times to go to town … it’s a blessing and it hasn’t been overly crowded at certain times.”

Letterie noted that he has heard that ridership on the Winthrop Ferry, which is now operated by the MBTA, is up this summer.

Town Manager Tony Marino said the ridership has been good, and that the town is in talks with the MBTA to extend the ferry season into December or January.

“We would love for it to be year-round, but that’s a work in progress,” said Marino.

In other ferry news, Marino said the ferry building has been cleaned out and is now open for use by ferry riders.

“We’ve got the bathrooms open, and now that main meeting room when you first walk in, the meeting room, is being opened in the morning,” said Marino.

The building is available for people to wait if it is raining, and Marino said it could be used for ticket sales or other purposes in the future.

“To those who don’t know, it was probably more difficult than imagined, but to have that building open after a decade of struggling with it is a little bit of a miracle,” said Precinct 5 Councilor Joseph Aiello.