Two Kitsap ferry routes won’t change a bit during the next 22 years, but the other pair will benefit from new and bigger boats, according to Washington State Ferries’ final long-range plan.
The plan, three years in the making, was released last week. It features the replacement of 10 aging vessels with new, slightly larger ones, presuming the state can fill a $3.3 billion funding gap. The first three will carry 64 vehicles; the next seven would be 144-car boats.
The increased space won’t keep up with a projected 37 percent ridership growth, so there will be an effort to move people out of their cars or away from peak travel times.
The Bainbridge-Seattle and Kingston-Edmonds routes, the busiest in the system, will hold on to the biggest, newest boats. The 202-car Wenatchee, Tacoma and Puyallup are barely 10 years old, and ferries are expected to last for 60. Kingston’s other boat, the 188-car Spokane, was built in 1972.
The Bremerton-Seattle route will get new 144-car ferries in 2015 and 2029. They’ll run together during the spring, winter and fall, and one will team with a 188-car boat in the summer. That’s an increase of 20 car slots year-round.
The Legislature also directed Washington State Ferries last session to look into ways to improve Bremerton’s schedule. There are big gaps at midday and late night.
Southworth could be the biggest Kitsap winner, although it won’t get a route to downtown Seattle or its own boat to Fauntleroy. What the Southworth-Vashon Island-Fauntleroy customers will enjoy are 78 more car spaces, the biggest increase in the system. Its two 87-car boats will be replaced by 124-car ferries, the first by 2015 and the second by 2030, joining its existing 124-car boat.
The Kitsap changes won’t take place until after three 64-car ferries are built. One is already under construction at Todd Shipyard in Seattle. It will go to the Port Townsend-Keystone route in 2011. The contract for two other 64-car ferries will soon go out to bid. The second, to be delivered in 2011, will be added to the Port Townsend route during the summer and shoulder periods. The third will replace the 62-year-old Rhododendron on the Point Defiance-Tahlequah route in 2012.
Washington State Ferries is assuming that it will then switch to building 144-car ferries, but might have to build one more 64-car boat if there’s not enough money left in the allocation from the legislature. The system doesn’t have a good place to put another 64-car boat.
Also good for the Bremerton and Southworth routes, which often lose a boat when a ferry breaks down, is that an 87-car ferry will replace the 34-car Hiyu as the backup boat in 2014.
Fares are projected to cover 78 percent of operating costs through 2030, assuming annual fare increases of 2.5 percent and a 37 percent increase in ridership.
For more about the long-range plan, go to http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/ferries/planning/ESHB2358.htm
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