This is the critical quote from the Washington State Ferries alert sent last Thursday: “once the dock is cleared, we try to get as many passenger vehicles as possible through the tollbooths and onto the waiting vessel.”

I appreciate that WSF finally admits that the new system of having tickets sold and scanned at the tollbooths creates a bottleneck that then leads to boats leaving partially filled while there are long waits and lines way up Fauntleroy, sometimes to The Kenny and beyond.

I am absolutely perplexed as to why WSF continues with the new system that it knows is screwed up beyond all recognition. Please explain on what grounds or data any rational or reasonable decision-maker sticks with the bottleneck cluster, especially while down a boat, instead of going back to the system that sold tickets at the tollbooth and had them scanned on the dock. You can get a lot more vehicles through the tollbooths if vehicles with pre-purchased tickets don’t have to stop at a tollbooth. When you have fewer boats and runs plus long lines and waits, it makes no sense to stick with a system that you know can’t fill the boats you do have. It can’t be good for the environment to run the boats without filling them while there are long lines and vehicles waiting on a boat. Nor can it be cost effective. I can’t think of any reason to justify this policy. So please enlighten my lack of imagination.

I understand WSF just renewed or is still under contract with the vendor for handheld scanners. Use the scanners on the dock, as they used to be used before the bottleneck cluster was implemented, and end the tollbooth bottleneck failed experiment for heaven’s sake.

— Barb Rhoads-Weaver