Ferry Fare Increase and Discounts Explained at Onboard Ferry Meeting Aug. 31

News release from the Washington State Transportation Commission

Proposed ferry fare adjustments are the focus of a series of pubic input meetings being held by the Washington State Transportation Commission.

For the San Juan Islands’ route, the meeting will be held aboard the Sealth on Monday, Aug. 31.

The Commission approved a new fare proposal at its July meeting and will hold public input meetings in late August and early September. Comments received will be considered prior to final adoption of the existing or a modified fare proposal, which would go into effect October 11, 2009.

The proposal includes these elements:

• Applying a 2.5 percent across-the-board general fare increase.
• Making the in-need organization discount permanent (now a pilot program).
• Allowing WSF to collect between 25 to 100 percent of the applicable fare as a non-refundable deposit for advance vehicle reservations on routes with a reservation system. This would be a pre-payment of a portion of or the entire fare and is not an additional fee.
• Eliminating the tollbooth surcharge for multi-ride fare purchases (which had not been implemented).
• Moving toward further implementation of tariff equity affecting San Juan inter-island fares by adding 5 percent on top of the 2.5 percent general increase.
• Allowing WSF flexibility to enter into agreements with fire districts for free passage when on emergency calls in lieu of payment for fire protection services at ferry terminals.
• Applying a 10 percent “peak summer surcharge” to only single-fare purchases (not applicable to multi-ride/frequent-user fares). The peak summer surcharge would be in effect between the end of June and the day after Labor Day.

Dates, times and locations of the public input meetings are as follows:

• Monday, August 31: San Juan Islands, on board the Sealth (interisland ferry), departs Friday Harbor at 11:35 a.m., Orcas at 12:30 p.m., Shaw at 12:45 p.m., Lopez at 1:05 p.m., and returns to Friday Harbor at 1:55 p.m.

In addition, a formal public hearing will be held on Tuesday, September 8, from 1 to 5 p.m. in Seattle at the Puget Sound Regional Council, 1011 Western Avenue, Suite 500.

The Commission will take no action during the public input meetings. Commissioners are however, expected to vote to either adopt or modify the fare proposal following additional input at the public hearing in Seattle. People who would like to comment, but cannot attend the public input meetings or the hearing in Seattle, can submit their comments to the Commission via letter, e-mail or telephone, no later than 5 p.m., Friday, September 4, 2009. Contact the Commission at:

WSTC
PO Box 47308
Olympia, WA 98504-7308
E-mail: transc@wsdot.wa.gov
Telephone: 360-705-7070

The Commission is designated the State Tolling Authority and as such, sets all state highway and bridge tolls as well as setting fares for Washington State Ferries.