The head of Vashon’s Ferry Advisory Committee is urging islanders to write their elected officials in Olympia about two ferry-related issues.
Greg Beardsley, who has headed the committee for several years and is a member of the task force working on improvements for the triangle route, has indicated letters would be helpful regarding the passing of Senate Bill 5392, which will likely be voted on next week. That bill, he said, would allow the ferry advisory committees to continue to exist, equalize the number of people on the committees and codify public outreach. He noted it is most important to write to Curtis King, chair of the Senate Transportation Committee; Tim Sheldon, vice chair and Steve Hobbs, the committee’s ranking minority member.
Also important, he said, is to write elected officials regarding upcoming budget work involving the ferry system. He noted that ferry officials requested that $90 million be appropriated for the two-year budget period, but Governor Jay Inslee requested only $60 million. Beardsley said this reduction in funding would add to the $270 million maintenance backlog the ferry system currently has.
“The budget problem is a huge one,” he added.
In addition to insufficient maintenance funding, the ferry system does not have enough vessels to provide for adequate maintenance and has limited ability to take boats out of service when needed, Beardsley said. The reason is that the Legislature requires that when a new boat comes online, one must come out of service, leaving the ferry system with few options for backup.
Islanders who would like to address the funding and vessel issues should write to the governor and their legislators, urging them to continue to fund construction of new boats and to restore maintenance funds, Beardsley said. They may also wish to request increasing the size of the reserve fleet. He added that legislators are not yet addressing the ferry budget, but when it comes up, the need to hear from ferry passengers will be immediate.
Beardsley added that he believes the Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth run will bear the brunt of the ferry system difficulties and may even face a permanent two-boat schedule.
“At the rate we are going, there is no possibility of not having more problems,” he said.
The San Juan Islands are served by four boats, he noted, but all the other routes, except the triangle route, have just two boats. That means that when a ferry needs to be pulled off a route, Vashon will likely be affected. With one boat out of service on Vashon, one-third of the service is lost. In other places, the loss of a boat would mean half the service would be affected.
He predicted difficult ferry travel ahead.
“We are going to suffer first and longest,” he said.
— Susan Riemer
