The North Carolina Department of Transportation’s Ferry Division switched over to its schedule for the 2014 calendar year on Wednesday.
The decision comes after officials conducted research on traffic patterns, and consulted with coastal stakeholders.
The schedule eliminates a handful of low-ridership runs, but mostly makes only minor adjustments to departure times and seasonal dates across the system’s seven regular routes.
The new schedule eliminates two early morning weekend runs from the Southport-Fort Fisher route to allow for refueling and maintenance while also complying with Coast Guard regulations regarding staffing. It also eliminates four off-season night runs on the Hatteras-Ocracoke route that are lightly used in the winter months.
