“Passenger ferry service is essential to moving people in the Puget Sound region,” said King County Councilmember Julia Patterson, who chairs the Transportation Policy Board of the Puget Sound Regional Council. “We need more service to meet our region’s projected future population growth. This study will ensure our region is prepared to accommodate the demand for additional ferry service and implement new routes across the Puget Sound.”

Patterson first proposed a comprehensive study of ferry service in an op-ed piece in the Seattle P-I on January 24, 2006, titled “Get Together on Ferry Service.” In the op-ed she noted that the Puget Sound region lacks a long-term plan for how to maintain and expand the passenger ferry system.

In 2005, the Washington State Legislature directed Washington State Ferries to cease all passenger-only ferry service in the Puget Sound. The last WSF passenger-only ferry service from Vashon Island to Downtown Seattle is targeted to end in July 2008. King County is currently examining options for sustaining the Vashon to downtown Seattle ferry service, but no long term plan exists to connect King, Kitsap, Pierce and Snohomish counties with passenger only ferry service.

“With the state getting out of the business of operating passenger only ferry service, we need a comprehensive, regional plan for maintaining and expanding this important mode of transportation,” added Patterson. “Our waterways don’t need maintenance, don’t develop potholes and aren’t subject to congestion. We should be maximizing this incredible natural resource to move people and support smart land use development.”

The Washington State Ferry (WSF) system is one of the nation’s largest ferry systems, serving 24 million riders in 2005. Forecasts show demand will grow to over 40 million by 2030. The passenger walk-on component will grow the fastest; on routes to downtown Seattle walk-on demand is expected to comprise 70 percent of all growth for the next 25 years.

Nelson/Nygard, Art Anderson and Associates and Mirai Transportation Planning and Engineering have been selected to lead the study. The study’s primary areas of focus will include:

• Analysis of need for additional service and new routes
• Coordination of state, regional, and local ferry system investments
• Integration of ferry operations with transit, roadway, and non-motorized improvements
• Guidance for ferry-oriented development and land use near ferry terminals
• Planning to address local land use and transportation impacts in ferry terminal communities
• Options for funding service in the future

An advisory committee has been established to oversee implementation of the study. The committee includes representatives from Kitsap Transit, King County, the Ports of Seattle, Tacoma, Everett, the Inland Boatmans Union, the Cities of Des Moines, Mukilteo, Seattle, Kingston and the Cascadia Center of the Discovery Institute.
The study’s findings will be presented to the Puget Sound Regional Council, early next year.

Elimination of the Motor Vehicle Excise Tax in 1999 reduced ferry system funding and forced cutbacks in service combined with increases in fares. This cut-back especially affected passenger-only ferry service, which is not eligible for state gas-tax funding.