BREMERTON — Bremerton ferry customers, envious of the fancy boats and frequent departures up north, often squawk when their tickets say “Bainbridge Island” on them.
Though Bainbridge and Bremerton tickets are interchangeable from Seattle, some believe Washington State Ferries is purposely skewing traffic counts to justify poorer Bremerton service.
That’s not true, ferry officials said Thursday.
Walk-on passengers are counted as they go through the turnstiles, so they can’t be miscounted even if their ticket is for the wrong destination, said Steve Rodgers, WSF director of operations. Only at the toll booths can mistakes be made, and sometimes they are, he said. But they cut both ways, for Bremerton and against it.
Here’s how it happens:
Bremerton and Bainbridge cars come through the same ticket lines. After a sale is made, the cash register stays on that destination until it is changed. If 10 straight Bainbridge cars are in line, the ticket seller won’t have to change it until a Bremerton car comes along, so the set-up can speed things up. They call it “throughput efficiency.”
The problem, explained Rogers and ferries spokeswoman Marta Coursey, is that some ticket sellers think getting the customer a speedy ticket is more important than getting one with the right destination on it.
“They’re instructed to always punch in the right destination,” Coursey said. “The issue is that our ticket sellers are very oriented toward customer service and trying to help the customer get through the line and get on the dock and get on the vessel.”
If it happens when there’s no rush, one can only assume the seller is too lazy to punch in the proper city.
Customers should clearly state their destination, Rogers said. If they get the wrong ticket, they can keep the receipt and report it. The seller can be identified from the receipt and will get a talking to. That’s usually sufficient, Rogers said. If not, they can climb the discipline ladder.
The ferry system has no way to track how often tickets are issued with the wrong destination, or whether it happens more often to Bremerton customers than Bainbridge. WSF gets four or five written complaints a year, Coursey said. As far as they can remember, none have come from Bainbridge.
The traffic counts are used for ridership forecasts and revenue projections, but not to make boat assignments and service decisions.
“Why people are complaining is because they’re concerned they’re treated differently from Bainbridge customers in terms of the vessels they get and the service provided,” Coursey said. “Our point is, there’s no correlation whatsoever.”
Usually, something like a newspaper letter to the editor rekindles this decades-long squabble, Coursey said. Paul Baumgaertner’s letter got it going this time.
The Rocky Point man said he recently got a ticket marked for Bainbridge, and it wasn’t the first time. But it was the first time he went back to the seller and asked for a new one. The seller told him it didn’t make any difference, but punched out a new ticket. It was also for Bainbridge. After a déjà vu discussion, the third time was the charm.
“I think it does make a difference,” Baumgaertner said of keeping accurate counts. “It’s important to have accurate data to properly allocate your equipment.”
Carlos Jara, who owns a store near the ferry dock, said a ferry official told him recently that Bainbridge was the default setting on the registers. According to Rogers, that’s true only when Bainbridge was the last sale made. Jara, who’s running for mayor, said he would press to get an accurate count, which might be as simple as laying down a hose vehicle counter.
Bainbridge Vs. Bremerton
How the Bainbridge Island and Bremerton ferry runs stack up against each other:
Vessels: Wenatchee (202 vehicles/2,500 passengers), Tacoma (202 vehicles/2,500 passengers)
Daily Departures: 23
2008 Ridership: 6,186,078 (1,951,316 vehicles, 4,234,762 passengers)
Bremerton
Vessels: Hyak (144 vehicles/2,500 passengers), Kitsap (124 vehicles/1,200 passengers)
Daily Departures: 14
2008 Ridership: 2,529,121 (664,771 vehicles, 1,864,350 passengers)
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