KINGSTON — SoundRunner will sail again this spring. The Port of Kingston Commission voted unanimously Thursday evening to relaunch the stalled passenger ferry service to Seattle by May 15. Commissioners also authorized a yearly subsidy of up to $200,000 from the port’s reserve funds for the service over the next four years.
The commission was acting on the recommendations of a citizen advisory committee, which urged the port to restart the service. The committee determined the service could eventually be self sustaining, but will need financial support from the port as it builds ridership and finds more revenue sources.
Commissioner Marc Bissonnette said the port has a duty to pursue projects like the passenger ferry, even if it means dipping into savings.
“Our goal here is economic development, it’s not just the bottom line of the port district,” Bissonnette said before the vote. “We are going to generate economic benefit.”
Commissioner Tom Coultas has been critical of the project and recently called for the port to survey all property owners in the district before relaunching the ferry.
Coultas voted for restarting SoundRunner on Thursday, after being assured service would be held to revenue goals.
“The port can’t afford to subsidize the service on an ongoing basis,” Coultas said.
Commissioners will treat the months between May and October as a trial period for the ferry. The advisory committee will continue to meet and will help set ridership and income goals for the ferry.
The port needs to hire a marketing team and a ferry manager by mid-April in preparation for a May relaunch. The advisory committee recommended it restart the service with two daily roundtrip sailings to Seattle, one in the morning and one in the afternoon.
SoundRunner first launched in October 2010 with four daily roundtrip sailings. Rough weather and mechanical breakdowns forced the port to suspend the service in November. Port staff say the Spirit of Kingston and Kingston Express ferries are repaired and ready for service.
Bissonnette said the port needs to avoid the pitfalls of the first SoundRunner launch.
“We thought it was a little simpler than it was, and it bit us,” Bissonnette said. “Hopefully we can do better this second time around.”
With a fresh start ahead, advisory committee Chairman Jerry Kirschner said the port’s focus should be on building its core of commuters. Committee members will meet with many North Kitsap community groups in coming weeks to spread the word of the SoundRunner relaunching.
“If the community doesn’t support it by walking on the boat, actually getting on the boat, then there’s nothing the commission can do,” Kirschner said.
As a long term strategy, commissioners say they want to reopen discussion of a regional transportation district. The port expects SoundRunner to attract commuters from as far as Port Townsend and Port Angeles.
“We have a unique challenge to create a transit district that spreads into three counties,” Commission Chair Pete DeBoer said.
The Thursday meeting drew a crowd of about 20 residents. Most seemed to favor relaunching the service.
“We want the boats going to Seattle,” Kingston real estate agent Jan Zufelt said. “It’s better for our roadways, it’s better for our community… We need to believe in ourselves.”
