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I am a lifelong ferry fan.
From the time I was a little kid running around the decks of a Washington State Ferry on my family’s annual summer journey to the Olympic Peninsula, right up to a recent jaunt across to Kingston, taking a ride on one of those big boats has always been a joy. Puget Sound is the splendorous center of our water-blessed region, and our ferries offer even people of modest means the chance to cruise through all that beauty.
Sadly, though, years of underfunding, delayed maintenance and faulty planning have left the ferry system with a serious shortage of trained crew members and not enough functioning boats. As a result, ferry service has become infuriatingly unreliable for many people who depend on ferries to get to work, to get back home, to get to medical care or to simply get wherever they need to go. In 2023, from July to October alone, 1,000 sailings were canceled, either because boats were out of service or full crews were lacking.
There is not much use in belatedly pointing an accusing finger at the well-intentioned folks who have run the system as it has slipped into crisis. They did not mean to screw things up this badly, I am sure. But here we are. So, it is worth asking if there is a better way to manage the ferry fleet in the future.
In a recent Times opinion piece, former Ferry Advisory Committee chairs Dave Hoogerwerf, Walt Elliott and Ralph Young suggested that we look north to British Columbia to find a ferry system model that is working well. Up across the border, they have managed to take most of the politics out of ferry management and have kept the ferries running dependably on time.
“In 2023, (Washington State Ferries) had 1,560 annual crew cancellations while scheduling only 70% of its regular service,” the authors wrote. “By contrast, BC Ferries had 73 crew cancellations while scheduling 100% of its regular service.”
That is quite a contrast. Maybe it helps that the provincial capital is on an island. Lawmakers from every corner of British Columbia can only get to their jobs by taking a ferry, if they do not have the option to fly.
Perhaps Washingtonians should move legislative sessions from Olympia to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island. That relocation might finally convince our state lawmakers that the ferries are an essential part of our transportation system that should never be neglected again.
See more of David Horsey’s cartoons at: st.news/davidhorsey
View other syndicated cartoonists at: st.news/cartoons
Editor’s note: Seattle Times Opinion no longer appends comment threads on David Horsey’s cartoons. Too many comments violated our community policies and reviewing the dozens that were flagged as inappropriate required too much of our limited staff time. You can comment via a Letter to the Editor. Please email us at letters@seattletimes.com and include your full name, address and telephone number for verification only. Letters are limited to 200 words.
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