WSF Long Range Plan in Final Draft Stage

— from Jim Corenman, Chair, San Juan County Ferry Advisory Committee —

Washington State Ferries recently released the draft for their Long Range Plan (LRP) looking out the next two decades to 2040. This has been a long time in the making, including meetings over the last year and public outreach by WSF this spring. The draft plan is now open for comment, and the final draft will be complete and presented to the state legislature in January. The next month is the time to for serious attention.

It will surprise no one that the top priority from all the comments has been reliability, and this is the key focus for the draft plan: Expand the fleet and focus on maintenance. The current situation, as laid out by the previous (2009) LRP, seems almost doomed to fail in retrospect: A total of 22 vessels with 19 in active service during the summer months, two in rotation for scheduled maintenance, and only one spare available for service in the event of mishaps.

We’ve had our share of ferry mishaps, as have most of the routes: Elwha out of service since early spring with serious corrosion issues (and not due back until December), Yakima crippled for months with bent props (now fixed), Hyak still sidelined with drive-motor problems, Issaquah out with gearbox problems, the list goes on and on. This is not the fault of the vessel engineers or maintenance folks, the equation simply doesn’t work: aging ferries need serious maintenance. Maintenance budgets have been cut but WSF even can’t spend what they have, because there are no spare vessels to allow for preventative maintenance. This is a circle that ends with broken boats and service disruptions right in the middle of our busiest season.

So the plan focuses on new vessels, some as replacements for aging vessels and some as additional maintenance and standby relief vessels. Other priorities include seismic terminal refits, reduction of carbon emissions, expansion of the Lopez terminal, replacement of the Anacortes terminal building, a long list of large and small items to improve the systems reliability and resiliency.

What the plan does not provide for is significant growth. The traffic projections are for vehicle and walk-on/passenger growth of 36-38% by 2040. While that might sound alarming, It represents only a 1.5% annual growth over 22 years—less than our annual growth over the last decade or so. Some increase in service hours is planned, and reservations may be expanded to other routes. But vessels are expensive, and simply increasing the fleet to meet maintenance needs—including other improvements—will cost 6.7 billion above current funding over 20 years.

The plan is only step one, next critical step is funding. It is a big request for the legislature, but to quote the plan (p.10): “The consequences of not investing in the system are dire, with vessels and other infrastructure continuing to deteriorate without replacement, cuts to service, and a gradual shrinkage of the ferry system. WSF’s customers and ferry-served communities would suffer as a result.”
What can you do to help? First, read the plan and decide if it makes sense and if you agree with the proposals. To get a copy, go to the WSF Long Range Plan website at https://wsflongrangeplan.com and click on the “Review” button, scroll down for the “Download” link. Attend an open house event if you can (in Friday Harbor, Wednesday Sept 26 4-6pm at Brickworks). And most importantly, send written comments by posting them on the website (“Comment online”). If you agree, let them know. And if you don’t, then let them know what you would propose as an alternative. Your comments count, see Appendix-D of the draft plan.

The next step of course is supporting legislation which will make this proposal into reality. It is not too early to reach out to Senator Kevin Ranker, Representative Jeff Morris, and the two candidates for Kristine Lytton’s seat, Debra Lekanoff and Michael Petrish.