Legislators Committed to Fixing Ferries Mess

There are very serious problems at Washington State Ferries and, as your legislators, it is our job to do everything we can to fix them.

The fix won’t happen overnight — there’s a shortage of boats, funding, service, and fairness — but we are all committed to turning this ship around by getting more safe and reliable boats in the water, improving operations to get costs down, putting commuters and ferry communities first, and working together until this system is fixed.

What’s happening now

This week, the Legislature passed and the Governor signed into law Senate Bill 6794 to authorize building up to three new ferries to provide relief to our fleet shortage. After years of legal challenges and delay, this bill directs the speedy construction of additional ferries by a Washington-based shipbuilder. Our intent is that new ships will be in the water next year.

We’re also having a frank, ongoing conversation with Washington State Ferries. This helps legislators ensure the ferry system is doing everything it can in the short term to provide relief and prevent future failures.

There have already been some shake-ups that we think are a promising start to changing the culture at Washington State Ferries. A new Secretary of Transportation took the bold move, after just weeks on the job, of pulling the Steel Electrics out of service. Washington State Ferries also has a newly appointed chief, brought in from the outside, who will be giving us regular reports to ensure changes are being made to the system.

We’re cautiously hopeful this new team will provide results and keep us on track. If not, we’ll know, because we’re demanding accountability to the Legislature.

Accountability moving forward

In 2007, we all voted for legislation to reform the ferry system, a bill that will dramatically change Washington State Ferries, as well as find a way to stabilize funding.

We are also calling on our colleagues to support a five-point Ferry Reform Plan that will help achieve the goals of returning safe, affordable and predictable service to ferry commuters. This plan is a reflection of the Joint Transportation Commission’s Ferry Finance Study started in 2006 that is already returning great results and cost savings. There are long-term financing challenges that need to be solved, but the first order of business requires getting the system on track. Our plan includes the following:

• The most important step in keeping fares under control is to keep costs down, and we’re committed to only approving expenditures on vessels and terminals that will keep the system running safely and reliably.
   
• Having a new Secretary of Transportation, Paula Hammond, and a new chief of ferries, David Moseley, is just the first step to overhauling management at Washington State Ferries. This session, we’re directing Washington State Ferries to cut millions of dollars per year in management and use the savings to improve service. And this is only the start.
   
• As with every other aspect of our state highways system, Washington State Ferries needs to focus on safe and reliable service, which is why we’re going to direct them to focus their budget towards operating efficiencies and preserving and replacing vessels.
   
• Because the maintenance and replacement plans for the ageing fleet have been ignored, we need an aggressive plan to get the right vessels to service every route in the system. Washington State Ferries also needs to build for the future rather than reacting to emergencies, and abandon its misguided ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to designing and building new vessels.
   
• Nothing will turn things around faster at Washington State Ferries than strict accountability. We are committed to ensuring that the most recent findings of the Joint Transportation Committee are immediately put into effect, and that Washington State Ferries make regular reports to assure us that they are keeping up with the reforms that we are mandating.

We’re confident these five measures will turn things around at Washington State Ferries.

Failure anywhere in our state highway system, ferry routes included, is unacceptable, but we are united in fixing this mess.

Senator Phil Rockefeller — 23rd Legislative District
Representative Christine Rolfes — 23rd Legislative District
Representative Sherry Appleton — 23rd Legislative District

Senator Derek Kilmer — 26th Legislative District
Representative Pat Lantz — 26th Legislative District
Representative Larry Seaquist — 26th Legislative District

Senator Tim Sheldon — 35th Legislative District
Representative Kathy Haigh — 35th Legislative District
Representative William “Ike” Eikmeyer — 35th Legislative District

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