Private Ferries Posed For Sound However, State Ferry System, Lawmakers Oppose Competition

Tue., March 12, 1996

Associated Press

A local entrepreneur says private passenger ferries could offer cheaper and more frequent service between Seattle and Kitsap County. But his proposal may hit a stone wall: the state ferry system.

S. Hilton Smith of Seattle, who recently bought Horluck Transportation Co. of Port Orchard, has proposed using five speedy, passenger-only ferries on two cross-Puget Sound routes: one between Seattle, Bremerton and Port Orchard, and the other between Seattle and Suquamish on the north Kitsap Peninsula.

The state ferry system operates car and passenger-only ferries between Seattle and Bremerton, but doesn’t serve Port Orchard or Suquamish.

“We’d like to take over the passenger-only business” from the state, Smith, 54, said Friday. “We think we can provide a better quality service with more frequency and at a better price.”

The state fleet has three passenger-only vessels, which serve the Seattle-Vashon and Seattle-Bremerton runs. The state plans to add passenger-only service eventually between Seattle and Southworth, near Port Orchard, and Seattle and Kingston, north of Suquamish.

Smith proposes using five 73-foot ferries that would cruise at 33 mph and carry 148 passengers each.

He says a Seattle-to-Suquamish trip would take less than 30 minutes, Seattle-to-Port Orchard less than 45 minutes, and Seattle-to-Bremerton less than 35 minutes.

On the state system, it takes 50 minutes to travel between Bremerton and Seattle.

Smith proposes a Seattle-Bremerton round-trip fare of $4.50, compared with $3.50 on state ferries.

Alice Tawresey, a member of the state Utilities and Transportation Commission who is from ferry-reliant Bainbridge Island, said she has mixed feelings about Smith’s proposal.

“My personal politics say I like private enterprise doing this,” she said.

But if Smith’s ferries usurp state passenger-only service to Bremerton, commuters might be forced to pay higher fares, she said.

State Rep. Karen Schmidt, R-Bainbridge Island, chairman of the House Transportation Committee, said she opposes Smith’s venture.

“We have been working a number of years to put this together,” she said of the state passenger-only project.

State law bans private ferries from operating within 10 miles of the state’s routes, though a waiver is possible if the new service doesn’t interfere with the state system.

Smith applied for such a waiver in February, but the state ferry system is already opposing applications from two other private operators.

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