In a recent Crosscut regional news service (www.crosscut.com) article, WSF observer C.B. Hall reported on “The Fragile State of Washington’s Ferries.”
Crosscut asked: “A recent disruption in ferry service to the San Juan Islands illuminated just how close Washington’s ferry system is to the edge. Can a new government task force resuscitate the struggling system?”
In the article, Hall writes:
Earlier this month, mechanical breakdowns on two ferries serving the San Juan Islands reminded local ferry users and Washington State Ferries (WSF) of the fragility of the system that connects the islands with the state’s mainland and the wider world.
The San Juans’ service is one of ten WSF-operated routes in the Puget Sound region. The ferry system lost a major source of funding in 1999, when voters approved a referendum that killed the motor vehicle excise tax, and investments in new boats have been minimal, leading to predictions of cascading misfortunes if too many of the aging vessels act up at the same time.
This month WSF and its patrons got a taste of how such a crisis might unfold.
(To read the full article and the discussion comments that follow, go to crosscut.com/2011/10/26/ferries/The-fragile-state-of-Washington-s-ferries )
