Could Sound Transit, by some form or fashion, order ferries?
Not so much to take over WSF operations but as a way to quickly restore order within Washington State Ferry system. I know that WSF is State and ST is regional but does that possibility exist?
It also isn’t so much just ferries but within the Sound Transit district would be able to use MVET or Sales Tax for the new boats and the revamp of all the WSF terminals that desperately need repair and passenger terminal improvements.
Any thoughts on this?
I have no idea what the capital and operating costs are for a ferry, but has anyone looked at privatizing the whole deal?
That would be the next best thing to be honest. I think it would be much better ran and controlled than what is currently going on. All the things I have read seems that everyone points fingers from I-695 and once it was revoked in court, the State of Washington did nothing to return that revenue for the ferries.
I guess the biggest thing with this region – can the Puget Sound handle another “agency”
As you probably know the ferry system was largely privately owned until the 1950’s.
Blackball lines was doing a very very poor job at service at the time, Capt. Peabody was repeatadly going to the state asking for massive fare increases rather than raising them in a stable and consistent manner. The fleet was old and unreliable, the condition of the boats was poor, even more so than the current State system. Witness the massive building program the state had to embark on when they bought Black Ball.
Additionally there had been a strike lasting a week that had disrupted service. Which the state had little legal recourse to address. Imagine if a “strike” shut down I-5 and the state had no legal recourse to force people back to work?
BCFerries is privately owned and is IMO not much better run than WSF. That ticket to Bremerton that costs $10 will be $25+ up there for the same distance.
Also, BC Ferries has had some high profile accidents lately, including one boat going under. I would not trust their operating model either. Although one of the latest excuses turned out to be crew incompetence on the Queen of the North, a trainee was at the helm, and nobody else on the bridge. They also have an aeging boat problem, but they are building some replacements, though. Then again, they have no Buy in BC Requirements, not even am Canadian Equvialant of the Jones Act. Their new boats are being built in Germany.
I was listening to the podcast of Inside Olympia, and I believe State Rep Clibburn was mentioning how she had got an email saying why hasn’t the private sector been asked to take over the routes. Turns out, the state never got some of the private sector operating model out of WSF in the first place. She was mentioning how the Black Ball line went broke, the strike, and other problems. Also, don’t blame this on one party that is in power now. The other party is equally to blame. The Governor when the state acquired the system was a Republican.
Now witness the excuse they came up for the delay in replacement. Saying they wanted a one-size fits all approach. Where did they get that idea from? Southwest Airlines. Although even they have a few of the smaller 737s.