Departure policy needs to be changed

Published 12:24 pm Tuesday, September 22, 2015

A recent commentary in The Beachcomber reported  that a legislative ruling allows ferry captains to leave prior to fully loading their vessel should their vessel be behind schedule (“Regarding ferries, speak up or lose service,” Aug. 26). I asked one of the ticket takers in the Fauntleroy Ferry Terminal this weekend who unequivocally said, “That’s BS.” He went on to say that once the ferry captain gives the order to drop the gate, the dock workers are obliged to do so or lose their jobs.

I know this falls on deaf ears at the Washington State Ferries headquarters, but since the Fauntleroy ferry dock can’t hold the full contingent of cars to fill even the smaller boats, shouldn’t the holding area (the line that backs up Fauntleroy Way) be considered part of the dock? The ruling allowing captains to drop the gate when a car is still on the dock was directed at cars arriving after the ferry was scheduled to depart. The cars lined up on Fauntleroy Way have all arrived prior to the departure schedule, but for which there were no accommodations on the dock. What further makes this a problem is that there is no system in place to efficiently get the overflow cars onto the dock prior to the captain’s decision to depart. There used to be. Drivers bearing tickets used to be allowed to drive around the ticket booth. Ferries are here to move traffic from point A to point B. The practice of leaving cars that have arrived in a timely fashion behind due to lack of dock space is not in line with the goal of the ferry system.

— Michael Rosenberg