Our Ferry Affair

As the ferry service has improved in capacity and convenience over the last 60 or so years, we’ve come to take it for granted and have built our lives around it. With the imminent threat of losing that service, we are now being asked again to demand that the State maintain what we have. Like many of you that work on the Island or are retired, I can often go for a month or more without setting foot on a ferry. Why should I care whether the ferry service gets curtailed? I realized that any significant alteration or elimination of service would have a larger negative affect on our lives here than just about any other single change in the status quo. The fact that we depend on the State to provide that service puts us in a very precarious position.

In my mind, the handwriting is on the wall. As we move into a low energy future, we can expect that the maintenance of our ferry system in its current state is going to be harder and harder to justify. The kinds of changes we would have to make to live with a much diminished cross sound transportation system will take at least 10-15 years to implement. We know that 95% of our food and practically all of our consumers goods come over on a daily basis, 40% of us commute to work on the mainland, a significant number of people that work here come from off island, and many vital health and other services are not available here. I know that my neighbor would probably not be alive today if he had not been able to get to Tacoma to the hospital via the ferry on a snowy evening a year ago.

As I see it, there are two actions that we need to undertake right away. First, we need to do everything we can to maintain a minimum necessary ferry service for the present. Second, we need to develop a plan for making ourselves increasingly independent of the system we have by developing alternative forms of transport, and adapting our needs to a system of transport that we can readily afford.

For the first action, how does a small island of 11,000 in a state of over 5 million make a case for the provision of a service whose cost is commonly perceived as being far more than our share of the State’s transportation budget? As in the past, we use the "blowfish" tactic in which we make ourselves seem a lot bigger than we really are. That means we all write the letters and make the calls that the ferry advisory committee recommends. We also point out the impacts beyond our island, such as reduced cross sound access, economic dislocation, and increased traffic loads on alternate around-the-sound highways. In justifying ferry expenditures for our small population, we usually point out that the State maintains rural roads with very few users. I am wondering if anybody has ever actually tried to quantify the cost per capita of rural road maintenance vs. running the ferries. I would expect that ferry costs wouldn’t stand out as being that exorbitant in comparison. We mustn’t forget that we lack the facilities to take care of some critical health needs of some of our residents.

Another thing we can do is to really consider how much inconvenience might be acceptable. Do we really need to have a ferry every hour through the day? Do we really need to drive our car over or do we have a carpool or mass transit alternative? It could be that we could live with a lower level of service without seriously impacting our present lifestyle. The important thing for now is that we let the state know that we need our ferry service. Some of us may not ride the ferry much but, without it, we will feel the costs, the dislocation, and some people could conceivably lose their lives.

The second action is the one I am most interested in. Can we develop a lifestyle that incorporates cross sound transport that can be sustained by the users? I think we need to accept once again that living on an island implies certain inconveniences. A trip to the mainland used to be a trip for the day or even overnight. I think that we will need to accept that once again. In accepting that, we will have to consider providing health facilities for those with critical care needs.

We really need to cut down on car ferries. When you think about it, transporting each 150 lb. person in two tons of steel on another 2500 tons of steel is absurd. If we can provide the ridership, I really believe that we can have convenient and comfortable passenger service and mass transit connections to literally anywhere we want to go.

It is much easier and cheaper to transport one large truck full of goods than to transport 500 cars onto the mainland to get the equivalent in goods. Shop the island: the more we do the more will be available. In the long term, we need to plan for providing more of our own needs: food, energy, jobs. I really believe that there will be plenty of work for all of us right here if we get more serious about being self reliant. Cutting down on transportation, by itself, will free up a huge amount of resources, including personal time for enjoying our life here even more.

Comments?
terry@vashonloop.com