Most Ferry Routes to run Abbreviated Schedules over the Christmas Holiday

Cost savings will total more than $35,000

The N.C. Department of Transportation’s Ferry Division will run an amended schedule at its Cedar Island-Ocracoke, Swan Quarter-Ocracoke, Cherry Branch-Minnesott Beach, Southport-Fort Fisher and Currituck-Knotts Island routes Dec. 24-26 as a costs savings measure. The Bayview-Aurora route will not run an amended route, because of the need to provide service for workers at the PCS Phosphate plant and the Hatteras-Ocracoke route will continue running its current abbreviated post-Hurricane Sandy schedule.

The abbreviated schedules will save the Ferry Division an estimated $18,535 in fuel costs and $16,569 in labor. The decision to run a changed holiday schedule was based on previous years’ traffic data. These amended schedules will take place Dec. 24, 25 and 26 at the locations listed.   The amended schedules are as follows:   Currituck-Knotts Island   Hatteras Inlet   Cedar Island-Ocracoke   Cherry Branch-Minnesott Beach   Southport-Fort Fisher   Swan Quarter-Ocracoke   For updated information about ferry schedules, call 1-800-293-3779 (BY-FERRY) and press 1 or sign-up to receive messages on Twitter by going to www.twitter.com/ncdot_ferry.