Islanders must speak up soon for quality service
Published 1:37 pm Tuesday, October 8, 2013
By GREG BEARDSLEY
For The Beachcomber
The good news: In 2014 Washington State Ferries will permanently replace the 87-car Klahowya on the Vashon-Fauntleroy-Southworth run with an Issaquah-class, 124-car ferry. The bad news: We may not benefit from that extra capacity unless significant changes are made at the Fauntleroy dock.
Even occasional users of the often-behind-schedule triangle route know that the majority of its problems can be traced to loading and unloading the boats at Fauntleroy. Traffic congestion, the bottleneck at the toll booths and larger boats with a short time scheduled in the slip all contribute to the difficulty of sending out fully loaded ferries in a timely manner.
While Washington State Ferries officials acknowledge these problems, they have repeatedly refused to attempt remedies suggested by your ferry advocates. The solution to these problems was actually employed at Fauntleroy in the not-too-distant past.
Until the position was defunded by the Legislature a couple of years ago, a state trooper directed traffic at peak hours, stopping traffic on Fauntleroy Way, which enabled ferries to empty rapidly and cars to begin loading immediately. This also left the two exit lanes open to be loaded with ticketed cars much more quickly than they are today. We need the cop back. Faunt-leroy ticket takers used to collect colored tickets; now they wield barcode-scanning guns. When the tickets were paper, a ticket taker often stood near the street, sending pre-ticketed cars around the tollbooth. They can’t do that today. Transactions now take more time and concentration, and ticket takers process fewer cars. The logjam at the tollbooth is one of the primary obstacles today to getting drivers with tickets in hand onto the boats. WSF should add a ticket taker to direct ticketed cars around the booths again.
Now, as WSF prepares to add another 124-car ferry in the fall of 2014, they say the way to avoid falling off schedule is to drop several sailings and spread out the schedule. They say they have no choice because the two large boats will take too long to load and unload.
Ironically, the triangle route has operated with two Issaquah-class boats in the past, when we had a police officer directing traffic and ticket takers who helped ticketed drivers bypass the tollbooths. On-time records were vastly better than they are now.
It may be easier to understand WSF’s stance if we understand what Vashon ferry advocates believe to be their motivation. A couple of years ago, a law was enacted principally to compel the San Juan ferry to run on schedule. But the law was worded so all ferry routes must now comply with new on-time parameters — even our complex triangle route. By law, ferry captains must write a report explaining all late departures. We believe they don’t want to file those long reports or get called on the carpet for late boats, so ferries often leave before fully loaded because ticketed cars can’t get onto the dock. Riders want the boats to leave full — WSF doesn’t want to be late.
WSF is preparing a new, spread-out schedule that they think will keep them from running behind on the triangle route when the new boat is added. The schedule is still being developed, but it is safe to say that WSF is determined to stay on time at all costs, whether it is in the best interests of its customers — you and me — or not.
When we (ferry advocates) compared the current schedule to a draft of WSF’s proposed schedule, we found that capacity during most of the morning commute and through the afternoon commute would run at a deficit compared to the current schedule. Wait times would increase, on both sides of the water. Despite acquiring a second boat with much more capacity than the one it replaces, by 7:15 a.m., ferries bound for Fauntleroy from the north-end dock would run at a projected deficit of 75 cars compared to the cars that are now allocated. It will be like losing one Klahowya crossing (87 cars) in the morning. Every day. In the currently proposed version of the schedule, the 4:40 and 8:05 p.m. ferries from Fauntleroy to Vashon would simply be deleted. Every day.
We believe that if the fundamental problems at Fauntleroy were solved as suggested, there would be no need for WSF to spread out the schedule. We would enjoy the benefits of a larger boat, with equal or greater capacity at all times of the day. We have pleaded with WSF to take these steps without success.
We need your help. If we don’t protest loudly, we will get the schedule WSF envisions, without any attempt on their part to address the root problems. WSF officials will visit the island Oct. 26 for a meeting on this topic. In the meantime, if you’d like more information, including the current version of the proposed schedule, email us at ferryschedule2014@centurytel.net.
— Greg Beardsley is the chair of Vashon’s Ferry Advisory Committee.
