WSF

Management needs business training

Some version of plan A is required … plan B is simply not viable and will be a destructive force negatively affecting Puget Sound growth and development.

WSF needs to send its entire management team to basic marketing training … the WSF management team is truly clueless in this aspect of business. Instead of punishing people for using ferries at peak times by raising fares and cutting service as you propose … which reduces overall ridership and reduces total fare-box revenues … you should be rewarding people for using non-peak travel times with significantly lower fares on those runs which: will pull people from peak time runs, will increase the total number of riders and car traffic, and will increase total fare-box revenues. In addition, it will make having more frequent bus connecting service on both sides of the water throughout the day a more viable venture due to increased mid-day ridership, and it will increase cross sound shopper travel thereby benefiting businesses on both sides of the water. Raising fares and cutting service will kill viability for bus service and will further hurt businesses on both sides of the water.

Your letting the condition of the boats go in the toilet is a visual destruction of one of the icons of the Seattle and Puget Sound region. The U.S. travel community has taken notice and is already talking about this … and warning travelers to check ahead as to the condition and viability of the Ferry system when considering travel to the Puget Sound Region. Your lack of insight regarding the impact ferry services have upon tourism in the Puget Sound Region is truly amazing … the region stands to lose millions in tourist dollars because of WSF poor marketing, maintenance and planning.

The Ferries are truly a part of the state highway system and either should be fully funded in a similar way, or the rest of the state highway system should become fare based and pay as you go as well. This is the message WSF should be advocating, instead you are caving in to the road construction industry and other interests who benefit from taking money from ferries and funding other pet transportation projects.

Neal Kellner

Hansville

Bremerton needs three boats

If the alternative to transform the Alaskan Way viaduct into surface streets comes to pass, the days of easy access to Colman Dock are numbered. A quarter of Seattle´s North South traffic will be interrupted with every ferry arrival. Thus the Ferry System´s second alternative of screwing down service on the Bremerton run to one boat plus a gaggle of fair weather spit-kit passenger ferries meshes well with the idiocy that passes for leadership and vision at WSDOT and the city of Seattle.

What I want to know is where are the majority Democrats, that represent this county in the legislature, who ought to be up in arms? What impact are all the County electeds, who voted to remain in the Puget Sound Council of Governments having on assuring our access through Colman Dock and maintaining our auto runs? Or are they complicit by continuing to vote for more Kitsap Transit foot-ferries?

The Bremerton run should have a third boat, not one. Remember it is part of the state highway system.

Matt Ryan

Bremerton

Reader feedback

What’s a shortfall?

In response to Bullocks of Dec. 24 reference to my previous letter of Dec. 17, 2008

Gene Bullock calls the state 6 billion debts a simple shortfall. What would his creditors call it if it was his debt? He totally deflects my original point of the responsibility of this state’s humongous debt. Instead he rails on about Republican “fat cat scams” and blames the nation’s economic meltdown on the Republicans.

The facts are simple on who is responsible for this states debt and the national economic downturn. The state’s debt is due to the democratically controlled legislature and its tax and spends, out of control democratic governor.

As far as the federal meltdown, all that an informed person needs to do to get the facts directly from the Senate hearing discussing government sponsored enterprises is to Google “You Tube” and search Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Senate hearings.

Republicans Richard Baker, Ed Royce and Christopher Shays are reporting to the government sponsored enterprise oversight committee that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are in serious trouble and require more oversight regulation. Democrats Maxine Waters, Gregory Meeks and Barney Frank castigate the report. In their own words they proclaim there is nothing wrong with the financial status of those governmental supported entities and give kudos’ to Franklin Raines.

If you doubt the facts pointed out in this letter, go to the video. Have the courage to see and hear the actual words from the oversight hearing committee. The blame is not with the fat cat republicans. It’s with the Democrat controlled oversight committee.

Dean Jenniges

Bremerton