KINGSTON — After a Feb. 22 meeting where frustration between the Washington State Transportation Commission, Washington State Ferries and Kingston residents boiled over, many commuters still feel unheard and hope a petition circulating the North End will make their voices louder.

The petition, spearheaded by the Kingston Ferry Advisory Committee, is similar to one that recently appeared in the San Juan Islands area, where commuters are also feeling strong pressure from the current fare prices and proposed increases.

“I bring it with me every time I’m on the ferry,” said KFAC member Dennis Cziske. He was also a member of the tariff committee before it was dissolved by the state transportation commission. “I cruise the passenger deck with it. A similar petition circulated in Island County, because they’re feeling the pain of fare increases the way we are.”

The state transportation commission is proposing a 4 percent hike in ticket prices on May 1, which is contrary to the 2.5 percent increase originally proposed by the Legislature. It is also examining the potential for implementing a peak hour price system, which would place even more strain on commuters already burdened by recent cost escalations.

“Any input like that is taken into consideration,” said state transportation commission executive administrator Reema Griffith. “Kingston was the only one that really had a meltdown environment during the meetings we held. The summation of them to us were mild, not contentious like Kingston… The 4 percent increase was not the focus of most of the meetings, it was more about service issues, the fare increase was just the starting point for those concerns.”

The price hikes started after Initiative 695 cut funding costs in 1999, 80 percent of which are now trying to be recovered through the fare box. Commuters feel this puts too much pressure on them to compensate for what the Washington State Ferries lost in funding.

“We wouldn’t be doing this if we didn’t believe it would make a difference,” said KFAC chairman Walt Elliott. “I have a feeling that the commission is always open to input, they certainly heard residents push back at the hearings. I think they tried to convince everyone the solution is more growth in ridership, when they are inhibiting growth with the fare increases, and the residents really pushed that idea back.”

Cziske said most ferry riders he’s approached with the petition have been willing to sign it, even some of the people visiting from other areas. About 3,000 people in the San Juan Islands area signed their petition, Elliott said, and though he’s not expecting that large of turn out from Kingston, he is hoping for a couple hundred signatures.

The petitions will be circulating through the North End until Wednesday, when Elliott and other KFAC members will collect them to take to the final transportation commission hearing on March 22 in Seattle. He said they will also be sending the petition to Gov. Christine Gregoire’s office for consideration.

“They have not made a decision yet,” Griffith said, addressing a perception many commuters have that the commission has already made up its collective mind to approve the 4 percent increase proposal. “They do respond to public input, and residents are being heard. The decision is not made, and sometimes they put off a decision to consider all the input fully.”