In the distant past, Kingston routinely had an extra boat for summer and holiday overloads. The boat not only reduced the wait, but also made a profit as it ran mostly full. For example, at 30-40 percent full, the 90-car Sealth covers its operating costs.
An opportunity for a third Kingston boat popped up last month when the Port Townsend run was shut down. The ever-alert and persistent Rex Carlaw petitioned WSF to bring the Port Townsend boat to Kingston, pointing out the boat was better used here generating revenue. While the 64-car Salish is WSF’s smallest active ferry, putting it here worked out great. In Kingston, the line kept moving and they didn’t have to hold traffic out of town. In Edmonds, the third boat filled on every sailing, and because of that there were no back-ups past Dayton.
Although at times ferries had to wait three to five minutes for the other boat to clear the dock, our schedule allowed them to easily make up the lost time. While the ramp heights needed a large adjustment between boats, this was something that the dock crews easily did.
On my ride, Salish got to thread through a sailboat race armada. Everyone behaved well and it was great fun.
Having proved that a third boat is still a profitable strategy here, the door may be opened for augmented Kingston service as WSF builds up its fleet of boats with the new Olympic class ferries. A larger fleet would free up a boat to be in standby for responding to breakdowns. So, why not station that boat at Kingston-Edmonds, where it can make money and ease our back-ups?
Vroom, vroom
A question came up about how motorcycles get to the head of the line. In Kingston, they’re supposed to drive down the local traffic lane and then merge with the ferry traffic at the toll booths. In Edmonds, motorcycles go straight to the lower toll booth.
Olympiantics
By this column’s deadline, the Senate and House were wrangling over a compromise transportation package to provide needed WSDOT funding. Ferries have been funded in a lot of ways over the years. The original funding came from the Toll Bridge Authority. However, with the sinking of the Hood Canal Bridge in 1979, ferry funding had to be shifted to a gas tax.
This gas tax stabilized fares until the 1990s, when ferries swapped their gas tax for a cut of the Motor Vehicle Excise Tax. The MVET then disappeared with Initiative 695 in 1999.
While two new gas taxes were passed afterward, little of that revenue went to ferries. Instead, WSF chased after fare hikes to balance their books. In six years, the fares increased 53 percent to 137 percent depending on the route. Although these fare hikes pumped up “farebox recovery” to 80 percent, the fares also drove away about 3.5 million riders annually and WSF’s deficit soon grew to $38 million per year. This fiscal hole was filled with “transfers” from non-ferry, WSDOT accounts. These transfers soon became a biennial bone of contention, with the governor’s office demanding service cuts instead.
This year’s proposed gas tax of 11.7 cents per gallon brought hope that ferries would finally have sustainable funding. The projections told a different story: Ferry funding would still be $22 million per year short. Although 12 cents per gallon instead of 11.7 cents would make ferries flush through 2031, that’s not likely to happen. The governor has promised to make up the difference, but as the saying goes, today’s promises are tomorrow’s taxes.
— FerryFare is written by Walt Elliott, chairman of the Kingston Ferry Advisory Committee.
