By Washington State Ferries’ (WSF) own admission, the triangle route is its most difficult to manage. Our humble little ferry run is WSF’s problem child, primarily because keeping it on schedule is an elusive task. Now, take note of the following statement: WSF hates nothing more than falling behind schedule. Here’s a list of things that WSF hates less: leaving ticketed cars on the dock while departing ferries have room for more, long lines of cars on Fauntleroy Avenue and the ire of ferry riders who plead for changes.

Why does WSF want so badly to stay on time? It conducts its business under the close scrutiny of the state legislature, which takes a very dim view of off-schedule systems. WSF, including the staff on the boats and docks, can incur very real penalties if they are behind schedule.

This is at the very heart of the dissonance between what WSF wants and what we, its customers, want. We want to fill those boats to the brim, so we can get to work, and especially to go home, as quickly as possible. What WSF wants, more than anything, is a nice, new schedule they can easily meet, by eliminating several departures.

The only remedy to the inefficiencies of the triangle route is to dramatically ease the bottleneck at the Fauntleroy dock. We must insist that WSF get pre-ticketed cars onto the dock much more quickly and efficiently. WSF planned to make some of those changes last spring and made a mess of it.

Come to the meeting tonight, Oct. 26, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at McMurray to oppose schedule cuts.

— Todd Pearson