||| FROM SAN JUAN COUNTY COMMUNICATIONS |||
Ahead of the busy, upcoming holiday season, members of San Juan County’s Council met with Washington State officials and representatives from the Washington State Ferries (WSF) to express islanders’ need for reliable ferry service.
SJC Councilmembers Jamie Stephens and Cindy Wolf joined Representative Debra Lekanoff, the Washington State Secretary of Transportation Roger Millar, WSF Assistant Secretary Patty Rubstello, Director of Marine Operations, Steve Nevey, and Director of Planning, Customer and Government Relations John Vezina, about developments in WSF services and operations.
“We’re so grateful to Rep. Lekanoff for organizing this meeting because we were able to give folks a clearer understanding of the importance of the interisland run,” said councilmember Cindy Wolf.
WSF reported there were 45 cancellations of San Juan Islands route sailings in the span of two weeks – which falls 3% short of their goal of 99% reliability. Attendees discussed ways to be more efficient in notifying riders of cancellations and working together to ensure islanders have enough time to make other arrangements. The importance of the interisland route was emphasized.
“These cancellations affect working families, school children, government operations, social services, sheriff operations, and more,” said councilmember Wolf. “It impacts our ability to do business as a community when small trades people can lose 20% of their income for a week when the interisland is cancelled.”
WSF committed to working with Rep. Lekanoff and SJC council on better notification strategies. A committee consisting of elected officials and local chambers of commerce is one proposed solution that might support the San Juan Islands and Anacortes Ferry Advisory Committees
WSF anticipates that their increased focus on recruitment and employee education will bring relief to the system by the summer of 2023. They expect less cancellations due to staffing shortages.
“I was glad to hear they are reviewing the dwell time,” said councilmember Stephens. “Understanding the time it takes to load and unload boats – especially during the summer – is key to keeping the boats on schedule.”
Earlier this year, WSF created two new programs that encourage current employees to take the necessary courses and exams to obtain a mates’ credential. Over the next 18 months, they expect more than 40 to complete all the training and credentials necessary to work as mates – which will support future system stability. They’ll be working with Governor Inslee and the legislature to make these programs permanent.
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The state ferry system is touted as part of the state’s highway system (“Ferries are highways too”). And yet, there are exactly ZERO state highways in the San Juans.
The San Juan ferry route accounts for less than 10% of the ferry system traffic, but uses 25% of the available boats.
In 2019, providing that service cost state taxpayers $24 million (net, after fare collection).
Many other counties in Washington pay for their own dedicated ferries.
Why are state taxpayers subsidizing San Juan County’s needs to transport its residents?
I hope readers and commenters will travel on the WSF to visit the San Juan Islands. You will see that the ferries are essential to our community, the State of Washington and the United States of America. We require reliable, dependable service for every day to commute to work, travel to the school or church of our choice, or to doctors and hospitals and all kinds of business. Way back in 1872, a dispute with Great Britain over the boundary was resolved in arbitration before Kaiser Wilhelm of Gerrmany and all that is now San Juan County was made part of the United States and is now accepted by Great Britain and the rest of the world. It’s a strategic location that must be populated to secure the border. Shortly after, the County was established and the county seat settled in Friday Harbor on San Juan Island. That’s where we have our courthouse and all the county offices, most state offices, and customs and border patrol. offices. In time, the ferry routes were made part of the state highway system, and if you look on the maps you will see they show Highway 20 North is the route of the Washington State Ferries departing Anacortes with stops at four islands: Lopez, Shaw, Orcas and San Juan Island. Counties throughout the State have important interests that are deemed by the legislature worthy of cost sharing. Those decisions have made San Juan County what it is today. This is no time to change direction. Ferry management should recognize that it is essential that they run a ferry system in the San Juan Islands that on time and on schedule, without cancellations.
Re: Frank Guy: True, there are no state highways in San Juan County … they only county in the State of Washington with no state highway, bridges, culverts, etc. That mean we are the only county in Washington State to pay for all of our roadways. Almost ALL main county roads would qualify as state highways if the roads lead to population centers, state parks, or ports. But the long overdue Comprehensive Plan update has the county (and therefore San Juan County citizens) continuing to pay for all the significant roads … whereas the goal should be to make as many of them that qualify state highways.
Additionally, San Juan County likely has more private paid and maintained roads that any other Washington State county.
If you consider there are more than 3,300 State built, maintained, and inspected bridges alone in Washington (inspections and maintenance alone cost $114 million a year, and new bridge replacement and construction is far greater than that … San Juan County doesn’t have any state bridges, so our state property taxes and multitude of other taxes and fees that gets channeled into the State Transportation budget is spent on the 38 other Washington State counties.
Ferries are essentially our bridges, and unreliable as ferries are, a cost analysis of total state road costs would probably show San Juan County getting the very short end of the stick when it comes to paying for our roadway infrastructure. And with the new Comprehensive Plan update, that apparently isn’t going to change anytime soon.
So $24 million provided for ferry support has to be compared to state highway expenditures, not a couple of minor league small ferries run an a couple of other Washington State counties. And if that isn’t enough, how about the annual cost of just snow and ice removal … compare those costs to San Juan County to the state expenditure in other Washington State counties … San Juan County residents end up paying for that and receive no direct county benefit.
The eternal “cost versus benefit” calculation from all sides of any state highway system to the state’s tax base is bound to expose discrepancies. Overall, it doesn’t behoove me, as a tax payer from SJC, to support snow removal expenses to keep the passes over the Cascades clear. But it also doesn’t behoove the citizens of Ellensberg to fund our ferry service. I mean, they don’t USE those expensive ferry boats, crews and terminals, right? On the other hand, I don’t use all those roads to the middle of nowhere out in the sagebrush… so, how do we organize ourselves to best serve the needs of citizens on BOTH sides of the Cascades?