This article is the second part in an ongoing series investigating the economic challenges facing working class islanders. In part 1, we looked at how real estate trends on Islesboro have made it increasingly difficult for year-round residents to find rental housing or afford to buy property. In part 2 we look at another challenge facing residents - skyrocketing ferry ticket prices as a main driver of the high cost of living…

The gas pump reads $5.99, and Ben Dove doesn’t bat an eye.

“As islanders our choices are: buy an overpriced ferry ticket and take the time to go to the mainland and fill your tank; or stay on the island and buy very overpriced gas here. It’s less than ideal.”

There are half a dozen gas stations within ten miles where gas goes for anywhere between $2.97 and $3.10 per gallon, but they are literally and proverbially an ocean away. For islanders, paying twice as much for gas is just a fact of life. It’s an assumed cost of the isolation imposed by the three miles of ocean between here and the mainland. The crossing may only take 15 minutes, but in the peak season, securing a spot on the ferry might take 2 or 3 hours of waiting in line… both ways.   

Even in the off-season, a quick round trip to the mainland to fill up and run a few quick errands takes two and a half hours and costs $30 for a round-trip, car and driver ferry ticket. In the peak season, when the island population is three or four times larger and ticket prices are up, the fare costs $42.50 for a single car and driver, and getting there and back will probably take most of the day. No one takes the trip just to fill up; factor in the ferry ticket, and that half price gas costs the same as on-island. Add in the hours of potential lost wages, and mainland gas might be exponentially more expensive than island gas. 

Residents find solutions both crafty and pragmatic…

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