Ferry system in financial straits, study says

OLYMPIA – A study has found that the state’s ferry system is in financial trouble, with no way to pay for new boats and ferry terminals.

A draft of a new ferries-financing study found that high labor and fuel costs means ferry management can’t effectively control operating costs and that the “gap in capital funding is likely to be the largest financial problems facing Washington State Ferries.”

The 67-page study, conducted by a team of consultants, was given to the Legislature’s Joint Transportation Committee on Wednesday.

Among the suggestions the report makes is to raise peak-hour ferry fares.

Doug MacDonald, secretary of the state Department of Transportation, said the consultants say the state needs to make peak hours more expensive to encourage off-peak travel.

“This is very controversial, but it’s time someone put this on the table,” he said.

The state’s ferry system took a huge hit in 1999 with the passage of an initiative that slashed the state’s motor-vehicle excise tax, which helped finance ferry operations. The Legislature ordered the study to figure out how to finance the troubled system.

In 2005, 23.9 million riders rode the ferry system’s 28 boats – 45 percent in cars and 55 percent on foot. More than half rode ferries in central Puget Sound.