Twenty-five Kingston-ians met in a stuffy community center June 10 to confer with David Moseley about the state of the state ferries. Here’s some highlights:
— Ferry traffic: Thanks to a push by Commissioner Rob Gelder, WSF’s looking into ferry traffic congestion by:
1. Fully utilizing the holding area; moving parked cars and stuff elsewhere will add three more lanes.
2. Preventing the hold-up of cars at the toll booths; this includes keeping access to the passenger drop-off clear.
3. Providing Kingston and Edmonds delay info on WSDOT’s electronic highway signs.
4. Fixing the tally signs. There’ll also be a meeting with the State Patrol to see if the tally system can be tweaked to give riders more time to stop and shop.
— Fares: Transportation Commission fare proposals include 2.5 percent increases this year and next; changes to fares for small cars, youth, and three-wheeled motorcycles; and a reservation cancellation penalty. There will be two July public meetings in Kitsap for comments, or you may e-mail transc@wsdot.wa.gov. Check the commission’s website for details.
— 144-car ferries: A new Olympic-class ferry will be delivered in 2014 and another in 2015. They will replace Evergreen State-class boats, like Tillicum, which are 60 years old. They cost $140 million each, or $970,000 per car space. While acknowledging the value of competitive bids, WSF pointed out that single-bid, built-in-Washington ferry procurement was directed by the Legislature.
— LNG: WSF continues working on a proposal to save fuel costs by converting Issaquah-class ferries to liquefied natural gas. Using existing boats for this doesn’t hold up the production of 144-car ferries, and can use the existing engines. The Issaquah boats will have enough life left to pay off the conversion cost.
— Ferry funding: WSF reported that the approved ferry budget for 2013-15 provides the current service at fare increases of 2.5 percent per year. After that, we need the 10 cents-per -gallon gas tax to avoid service cuts and bigger fare hikes. To help put this in perspective, here’s a short history of Washington’s transportation funding.
In Washington, the funding for transportation is totally separate from other state programs. Before 2000, WSDOT got its support from four sources: a 23 cents-per-gallon state gas tax, a cut of the federal 18 cents-per-gallon gas tax, various vehicle fees, and the motor vehicle excise tax or MVET. Sixty percent of WSF’s operating costs were paid by fares and the remainder was paid by the MVET. Initiative 695 eliminated MVET’s $800 million per year revenue, of which ferries got 13 percent, highways 34 percent, city and counties 25 percent, and public transit 29 percent.
While local governments scraped up replacement funding, two blue-ribbon committees decided that ferries could make up the loss with fare hikes and that highway maintenance would be covered by new efficiencies and revenue from growing gas consumption. So when gas taxes were raised in 2003 (5 cents) and 2005 (9 cents), that money was committed to “megaprojects” like the Viaduct tunnel and 520 bridge. The “blue ribbon” plan didn’t work. While our ferry fares nearly doubled, riders dropped and labor and fuel costs went up, leaving WSF with a $50 million per year gap. Highway costs rose 4 percent per year while gas tax revenue lagged at 1.7 percent per year, widening that gap as well.
As the new gas taxes were already committed to the megaproject loans, funding to sustain roads, bridges and ferries came up short. So a new gas tax and vehicle-fee increases were proposed to sustain the system and finish the megaprojects. Ferries’ 10 percent cut of $80 million per year covers operations, maintenance, new Seattle and Tacoma terminals, and a third 144-car ferry.
Kingston … where the ferry fun begins.
— Contact columnist Walt Elliott at elliottmoore@comcast.net.
