State holds hearing on request to halt ferry service for a year between Seattle and Friday Harbor

 
June 1, 2009

Docket Number: TS-090424

OLYMPIA, Wash. – State regulators will hold a meeting next week in Olympia to hear the public’s views on a request by a ferry company to temporarily discontinue passenger-only service between Seattle and Friday Harbor.

The Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission (UTC) has scheduled the meeting at 1:30 p.m., Tuesday, June 9 in the second-floor hearing room of the commission’s headquarters, 1300 S. Evergreen Dr. S.W., Olympia.

San Juan Express, Inc. operates a seasonal passenger commercial ferry service from May through September between Seattle and Friday Harbor. On May 14, San Juan Express requested the UTC allow the company to halt commercial ferry service between Seattle and Friday Harbor until May 21, 2010. San Juan Express serves about 17,000 customers a year on the Seattle to Friday Harbor route.

San Juan Express provided ferry service using a boat leased from its parent company, Clipper Navigation, Inc. This year, Clipper Navigation chose to lease its vessel to the U.S. Navy, instead of San Juan Express. San Juan Express argues it cannot find a suitable boat to provide its regulated service to passengers travelling between Seattle and Friday Harbor. The company’s certificate, approved in 1993, gives it the right to operate the route.

Other options for passengers wanting to travel from Seattle to Friday Harbor are to use the Washington State Ferry service from Anacortes, Port Townsend or Sidney B.C.; take a private commercial ferry service from Bellingham or fly by float plane.

The UTC will decide if the company will be allowed to discontinue service temporarily or cancel San Juan’s permit. The commission also could ask the company to relinquish its certificate voluntarily. If the certificate is canceled or relinquished, it would potentially open the route to a new carrier to service the route. The UTC granted the company a temporary discontinuance for a 30-day period ending June 22. The commission will make a final decision to grant or deny San Juan’s request after the June 9 hearing.

Interested persons may comment at the June 9 Olympia hearing, submit their view by e-mail at comments@utc.wa.gov, by mail at P.O. Box 47250 Olympia, Wash., or fax to (360) 586-1150. The commission deadline for accepting public comments is June 9.

The commission regulates the rates and service territories of private commercial ferry companies in Washington.

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