Washington State Ferries (WSF) informed us last Friday that Vashon would lose car capacity for this week, beginning Monday. The Evergreen State has replaced the Cathlamet, hopefully just for the week.
This will happen again Oct. 12 through Nov. 2. Expect longer wait times and lines and plan accordingly. Vashon service on or around Nov. 2 should be back on track, subject to change with our aging ferries.
Vashon will bear the brunt of any ferry outage in the system. We have three boats and if no spares or boats with enough capacity are available, we will lose one, most likely an Issaquah-Class ferry. This is because the fleet is not being replaced fast enough to even maintain a maximum age of 60. This is 20 years longer than almost any other ferry system in the world. We must tell the legislature to build more boats faster. Yet even the operating and maintenance budget is short of the need.
Vashon’s continued apathy about our vital link to the world will only do our island harm. Everyone is affected by the ferry system. Everyone must speak up. Very few, if any, spoke about the inequity of the fare increases we will begin to pay on Oct. 1. Few spoke up in the last legislative sessions. We will be the ones to suffer first, as witnessed during the Tacoma breakdown earlier this spring, where we had overloads into the early morning hours yet the backup at Colman Dock was cleared at 7:30 p.m.
Phase 1 of dock construction is in full swing, with Phase 2 scheduled for late fall. Watch for traffic revisions on the dock then. The change may have more of an effect on ferry traffic than it does now.
Additional detour signs are coming for 103rd Ave. SW also known as Parking Lot Hill Road. Some people are determined to use the one-way stretch between the parking lot and 112th Street, where the one-way traffic begins. Please take the detours, for safety’s sake.
Seattle Public Utilities construction at Fauntleroy will impact the right exit lane from the street to near the tollbooths. WSF is working to minimize the time the lane will be closed. It will also affect the parking lot at the end of the dock.
Asst. Secretary Lynne Griffith, who directs the ferry service, now has her new upper management team in place. The last hire, Kristina Arsenault, will start in September and will head up the customer service and planning group. Before she was chosen, I was invited to participate in a panel interview for the director of community services and planning. I want to welcome Kristina Arsenault to WSF.
The Ferry Advisory Committee continues to meet with WSF. We’ve worked hard on the schedule and to organize construction to minimize the impacts to users.
Most recently we have discussed issues important to the Triangle Route and Vashon. During the next legislative session we need to write the transportation committees and ask them to relax the mandatory on-time departure of ferries so boats don’t leave partially empty when cars are waiting.
We are also discussing ways that ferries can make the Fauntleroy dock more efficient. The police officer is a tremendous help, but improvement is needed to get cars past the tollbooths and on the dock. During last week’s session, a number of suggestions were presented. WSF wants to explore and expand on them for our next meeting.
It turns out that legislative funding requested and received by WSF was insufficient to cover the police officer on the dock. The amount of construction and other factors has increased the costs. WSF is looking for ways to keep that position going through next July.
This and a number of other matters will be needed from the 2016 legislative session. We will have to speak up and be heard or our service levels will fall back. As usual, expect more changes. Meantime, WSF is trying hard to improve our Vashon and Triangle routes and our ferry experiences.
— Greg Beardsley heads Vashon’s Ferry Advisory Committee.
