State Envisions More Foot Ferries — on County's Dime

A draft long-range plan announced recently by the Washington State Ferries would return passenger-only service to the forefront.

The plan actually includes two options — Plan A and Plan B — for restructuring WSF. At this point, the state doesn't have money to pay for either option.

Plan B proposes that the state reduce car-ferry service and that county-funded passenger ferries pick up the slack.

Plan A, which provides no new service but requires 10 new boats to replace retiring ones, would leave the state $3.5 billion in the red.

Plan B would replace five ferries and create a $1.4 billion gap. The Bremerton-Seattle route would be cut to one car ferry, the Southworth-Vashon Island-Fauntleroy route from three to two boats, Port Townsend-Keystone would get one boat instead of two, and night service would be eliminated on Bremerton and Kingston runs.

"If we keep about this size of car ferry system and start picking up the extra capacity with foot ferries, that looks like a smart strategy to me," said Rep. Larry Seaquist, D-Gig Harbor, noting that south and central Kitsap need more service, not less.

"It certainly does open the door to passenger ferries," he said of the plan. "We (the state) said we weren't in that business and now the state ferry system is saying there is a role for them, so I think that's helpful. We still have the problem of who will do this here in Kitsap."

The state was running passenger ferries between Bremerton and Seattle and had intended to add routes from Southworth and Kingston to downtown Seattle.

It scrapped those plans after citizens voted to limit motor-vehicle excise taxes, a major funding source. The initiative was found to be unconstitutional, but the Legislature bowed to the people's wishes and passed it anyway. That was in 1999. Since then, the ferries system has survived on fare increases and transfers from the highway budget.

The state decided in 2003 it could no longer afford to operate the highly subsidized fast ferries Chinook and Snohomish between Bremerton and Seattle, and it recently sold them for $4 million to Golden Gate Ferries. Metro King County is taking over the last state passenger ferry route, between Vashon and Seattle.

Kitsap Transit twice tried to raise local sales taxes to add fast-ferry service, but voters rejected both efforts. It now is conducting wake research in Rich Passage that will include purchase of an ultra-low-wake boat and operating it for several months to test whether its wake would damage the shoreline and if people would ride it. There is no money to operate it after the research is completed.

Transit executive director Dick Hayes said Monday that if there's a chance that the state might cut the Bremerton-Seattle route to one car ferry, his agency needs to study how to replace the service.

"To be responsible, I think we need to figure out if we're going to do it, how we're going to do it, so we need to go through that exercise."

The Port of Kingston is working to establish a route between the North Kitsap town and downtown Seattle. It owns a dock in Kingston, has an agreement with the state to use a terminal in Seattle, and has a $3.5 million federal grant to buy a boat. It plans to buy a new 100-passenger ferry and a used backup, port manager Mike Bookey said. All it needs is help with operating expenses, for which it is applying for other grants. It had hoped for some state money from the sale of the Chinook and Snohomish, but that's all going to King County.

Bookey hopes to be running a morning boat to Seattle and an evening ferry to Kingston by September.

"It legitimizes the need," Bookey said of WSF's proposal for passenger ferries to complement state car ferries. "It legitimizes the market, so that we're not some little town out here trying to put something together."

WSF and the Puget Sound Regional Council say the route is important to take traffic off Highway 305 across Bainbridge Island and passengers away from the Bainbridge Island boats, which are forecast to exceed their capacity.

The Legislature in 2003 authorized counties to create local ferry districts funded by property tax increases. That's what King County did, without putting the plan to a vote.

Gov. Chris Gregoire's transportation proposal seems to jibe with Plan B. In it, the ferry budget is balanced only for the 2009-2011 biennium. A deficit occurs in the next two biennia. Cuts are likely because the budget directs ferries to develop a six-year spending plan that assumes no new revenues.

It would eliminate the run between Anacortes and the British Columbia town of Sidney by September 2009; put the 34-car Hiyu on the Point Defiance-Tahlequah route instead of the 48-car Rhododendron; raise fares 2.5 percent each year; and add just one ferry, a 64-car Island Home boat for the Port Townsend-Keystone route.

Director David Moseley is the only ferry official commenting on the long-range plan, and he wasn't available Monday afternoon.

In January, WSF will hold public hearings on the draft long-range plan.

Public comments will help mold the final plan, which will be provided to the legislature on Jan. 31. The format for the hearings is a 30-minute presentation followed by a 90-minute public comment period.

The local public hearings will be:

Townsend-Keystone: Monday, Jan. 5, 5:30-7:30 p.m., Port Pope Marine Building, 100 Madison St., Port Townsend

Bremerton-Seattle: Thursday, Jan. 8, 6:30-8:30 p.m., Kitsap Conference Center, 100 Washington Ave., Bremerton

Southworth: Monday, Jan. 12, 6:30-8:30 p.m., South Colby Elementary, 3281 Banner Rd. SE, Port Orchard

Bainbridge Island-Seattle: Tuesday, Jan. 13, 6:30-8:30 p.m., Bainbridge Island Commons, 402 Brien Dr., Bainbridge Island.

Kingston-Edmonds: Wednesday, Jan. 14, 6-8 p.m., Kingston Yacht Club, 25915 Washington Blvd., Kingston

Copies of the draft plan are available online or by calling (206) 515-3411.


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Comments » 21

gee writes:

I'm not opposed to adding foot ferries, but not at the expense of current auto ferry service. The legislature is trying to get out of its obligtation to fund the existing system. Only one boat for Bremerton? Two boats for Vashon/Southworth? No late night service? The governor and legislature are using the current economic crisis as an excuse to kill the ferry system, when in fact it hasn't been properly funded for years. It's time for the West Sound legislators to stand up for us the way Karen Schmidt used to and the way Mary Margaret Haugen does for her constituents

dahl#245857 writes:


"The legislature is trying to get out of its obligtation to fund the existing system."

You are right. Just like the education system they are passing the buck. They will continue to pass legislation which requires other entitites to fund their projects. Anyone could do the job they do. "Say "aye" if you want this funded by counties". Aye, aye, aye, aye, etc.. Truly a sorry lot.

ConcernedCitizen writes:

I don't think the options have been explored here. You could keep two Super-class ferries running on the Bremerton run and actually grow ridership. Forget about servicing tourists in the San Juans during the summer and operate reliable service for citizens of the area.

These ferries are our economic lifeline. Want to see your home values plummet? Reduce ferry runs.

Bremerton needs more service, not less. If it were reliable, many people would choose not to drive around. As it is now, you never know if you'll have a big or small boat. You never know if you will be able to drive on.

Passenger ferries are a nice addition, but WSF could cut a LOT from its labor costs just like auto makers are doing. It's time to do it. Run the ferries like a business. Get paying butts in the seats.

paul_landers writes:

So I guess we will all be forced to use the Bainbridge ferry if we want to go over to Seattle for a Mariners night game or some nightlife. How stupid. It's starting to sound like the State is hoping the Counties take over the ferry system all together. Well, except for maybe the Seattle Bainbridge route.

whalerin#474696 writes:

Maybe a better model for the ferry system and Bremerton is a modified version of the Staten Island system. They use large boats like the E-State or Issaquah with mostly passengers instead of vehicles. Little dinky PO boats will never cut it because they cannot carry enough for the cost of the operation of the vessel. Best scenerio is what we have with more incentives for walk on and better connections that make it work. Killing the vehicle ferries is not the answer. It is only the sins of the past and present that are forcing this plan, not good sense.

KitsapPatriot writes:

Kill the ferries without a good alternative, I will walk away from my mortgage, and tell washington to screw itself.

oldmill (Inactive) writes:

You really have to wonder if after becoming a state legislator the first check-in station is for a frontal lobotomy. My first ride on a WSF boat was on the shiny new Walla Walla - anybody remember those days? From that time over thirty years ago to today there has been no increase in vehicle capacity on the Bainbridge-Seattle run (the new boats aren't packed as densely as their predecessors), yet there has been a significant increase in vehicular traffic. Now it appears that vehicle capacity reductions, not increases, are being planned. Anyone who believes that you can cut a Bremerton car ferry, replace it with a fleet of passenger only boats, and still see a reduction in vehicles through Bainbridge is in need of long term therapy. The only way this makes any sense is if Rep. Seaquist of Gig Harbor is trying increase traffic on the Tacoma Narrows bridge to pay it off earlier to the direct benefit of his constituency. Those people in Olympia are smoking some really powerful weed.

larryseaquist writes:

Folks, my position hasn't changed. We definitely need more car ferry service in Southworth and Bremerton. We are seriously underserved now and ridership is forecast to continue to grow. That means that we need to build new boats asap and add car ferry service to Southworth and Bremerton. I do believe that we also ought to be adding passenger service but the issue right now is to build new boats. And that means continuing to fix the ferry system and trim down the headquarters staff so money goes to building boats, not paying excess headquarters staff. Larry Seaquist

larrycroix#210492 writes:

While I support the idea of passenger only ferries the idea of Kitsap Transit running them gives me cold chills. Liability is a big issue as well the necessary funding mechnisms. If the state can't do it that is reason enough for us not to.

When my wifes family owned and operated the PO Foot Ferry I can not remember a time that there was not one or more law suits going against the company. The general "accident" was the result of someone throwing a bottle on the deck instead of in the trash and either that person or someone else fell because of it. I don't remember ever loosing one of these suits but tons of money was spent on insurance. Their insurance company did on occasion settle when the claim was low enough that a trip to court was more expensive and would not set a bad precident.

nkroadcaptain#209303 writes:

Why is all the money from the sale of the fast passenger ferries going to King County?

Were the vast majority of riders on them King County residents coming to walk downtown Bremerton?

If even one person believes that, I want their medication.

carlos.j#215028 writes:


Isn't there a clause in state law regarding competition with the state ferries?

My understanding is that no entity can directly compete with the ferry system, and that on special circumstances, it will allow a company to operate (like the defunct Kitsap Fast Ferry) with limitations.

Could the state law be changed to open it up to competition, where a private entity (or entities) can create their own "foot ferry fleet" and operate ferrying passengers across the Sound?

I'm wondering where I had read about the clause against competition.


-Carlos Jara-

friedfam#319967 writes:

I don't want to misrepresent Rep. Larry Seaquist's position on ferries, which I did by limiting his comments in this story to passenger-only ferries. He had much more to say, and I will add it here.
He said he likes that WSF put out two plans, A and B, "so that we are not going away from recognition that at least in the South Kitsap and Bremerton areas we need more ferry service than we have now. ... The study is showing ferry ridership will continue to climb and we start here in the Central and South Kitsap areas underserved anyway."
He said the WSF boat-building plan is helpful. "Moseley is saying we ought to continue building three Island Homes now. He's telling the Legislature I want money to keep on building Island Homes and I want to follow that directly with starting to build the 144s. To me that is the most sensible proposal we've had yet."
He responded to Senate Transportation chair Mary Margaret Haugen's suggestion that we might have to get by with less ferry service.
"I do not accept the idea that we're going to have to be content with a two-lane marine highway over here. I for one am going to continue to work to get this ferry system streamlined, cut down headquarters staff and get these ships built."
He said the most important thing now is to get all the ferry officials, cities, counties, legislators from ferry communities together and thinking about what they need to do in the Legislature to start building ferries and to overhaul the ferry system.
He said we need to put a cap on ferry fares and we're just about at that point.
And he's working on a bill that would require transit agencies to certify with the Legislature every year that they have harmonized their transit system with adjacent ones because there are lots of people who would walk on the ferries if they was assured of having a connection.

ConcernedCitizen writes:

How about looking into the union agreements and find out how much the engineers, deck officers, etc. are getting paid in overtime by milking the union rules? I bet we have more than a few that are making in excess of $150K because they have weekly (double-pay) overtime amounting to 20% or more of their hours. Cut out the FAT first. Then look at crewing costs and fuel.

I'm not saying that there aren't good reasons for well-paid crew and even overtime. It just shouldn't be the norm.

Bob_Meadows writes:

Carlos Jara asked about noncompetition rules in state law. RCW 47.60.120 appears to be the rule, and it seems to allow passenger-only ferries to operate without worrying about competition:

I suppose a POF operator still needs to jump through the bureaucratic hoops to get permission to operate any route, but there seems to be no problem with a noncompetition rule--except possibly for a privately owned operation. The legislature amended the law twice in the same session without apparently noticing that two amendments were in the mill, so one says the noncompetition rule simply doesn't apply to POF operations while the other says the rule doesn't apply to government-run POF operations.

Since POF service is prohibitively expensive (that is, so few people would pay the fare needed to run a privately-owned service that it couldn't attract the minimum number of riders to survive), only government-run POF service is possible anyway. Only if the taxpayers put thousands of dollars a year per rider (about $7000 or more) into the capital and operating expenditures for POF could there be POF service.

gee writes:

I'm glad to see Rep. Seaquist "talk the talk" now lets see if he "walks the walk". And lets hear from the rest of our representatives too. I don't think that just trimming staff at headquarters is going to make everything better, there needs to be a stable funding program in place for WSF. Cutting service will only drive people away from using the system.

Mars writes:

NOT WITH TAXES ON MY HOME! How hard is it to understand that our taxes are HIGH ENOUGH. Keep your hands off my house. I will agree not to ride you stupid boat if that's what it takes but enough is enough.

ConcernedCitizen writes:

I will say it again, the WSF are still one of our most successful transit endeavors. 70% farebox recovery is outstanding. If we can cut some of the operations staff and do a little better, great! There are many inefficiencies system-wide that could be targeted. Even with the current model, this is a system to BUILD on NOT destroy.

Mars - there is a direct link between these ferries and the value of your home. The ferries are an economic lifeline for our county. There were ferries in Washington before there were highways (makes sense given our geography), and we should support that mode of transportation just as much as the highways. I am not suggesting any additional taxes as support, but I would suggest that they deserve your support like so much of our infrastructure.

NoSpin writes:

I seem to recall a Guest Editorial to the SUN concerning WSF that ran about a year ago that was signed by all nine legislators representing the three Kistsap area Legislative Districts - they're all on the record supporting ferries...

"Mars" don't worry - none of your taxes are going to WSF! All of your tax dollars are going only to the things you support, and all of mine are going to things I support. Since there's probably no overlap between us, it all evens out... :-)

But on a serious note...

People should remember that WSF routes touch only about a dozen Legislative Districts in our state - which means that there are 37 other LDs whose representatives have constituents who feel just like "Mars" does! That's why Larry Seaquist and our other Reps. have such a hard time getting funding for WSF.

Larry was good at "cutting the fat" when he was in the Navy, and did a good job of slashing administrative overhead on the TNB during its first year of operations - I'm eager to see what he can do with the WSFs top-heavy staff sitting in offices in Seattle.

carlos.j#215028 writes:

Thanks for the info Bob...greatly appreciate it!

-Carlos Jara-

roger2012 writes:

The State Legislature has stopped doing its job. They would rather pass fluff bills and poor legislation than do what we elected them to do. Don't want to fund schools? Support and push a 50% pass point for levies. Want ferries? Pass a law to allow local areas to levies taxes without a vote. Want to fund anything? Get your elected officials to pass a law that allows you to create a taxing district. Frankly, if the State Ferries fail, so be it. If Mr. Hayes wants to recreate the Mosquito Fleet, have him invest his private money. As for the ferries being an economic lifeline for the County, then prove it by coming up with a cure that will not tax us out of house and home. I would support better public transit in Kitsap County except for the fact it is now Kitsap Commuter Transit, not true public transit. With the millions of taxpayer dollars being spent by Kitsap Transit on POF research, it seems a foregone conclusion that Kitsap Transit and other elected officials will use the inability of our State Legislature to to fund POF and create another money sucking taxing district that will create and raise taxes without voter approval. Hayes has lost twice, but third times the charm. Cover your wallets.
Roger Gay
South Kitsap

dahl#245857 writes:


While Seaquist continues "working" on all sorts of ferry issues, how about working on getting rid of the "Washington Only" ferry building legislation? A disservice is being done to the taxpayers of this state by this type of legislation.
