By: Jeff Chew
Peninsula Daily News
May 9, 2008
Link to original news article
SEATTLE — Tim Caldwell, general manager of the Port Townsend Chamber of Commerce, came away from a Thursday passenger ferry forum energized, saying it was like "Christmas."
He said he told the audience in the Port of Seattle chambers: "The chamber has $100,000. That's our life savings. And we're willing to wager it all" to launch passenger-only ferry service between the Port Townsend and Seattle.
Caldwell addressed Puget Sound regional leaders at a forum sponsored by Cascadia Center at Discovery Institute in Seattle to discuss passenger-only ferry operations on the region's waterways as part of a Puget Sound Ferry Coalition meeting.
The forum invited Caldwell to speak, referring to him as a key player in advancing a regional network of low-wake, high-speed passenger-only ferries for Puget Sound.
"What's really interesting is Puget Sound Regional Council has hired a consultant group to do a Puget Sound regional passenger-only ferry study of commuter routes," Caldwell said.
The consultant recommends that Port Townsend be included in the program as a recreational route, he added.
Caldwell said that officials confirmed the chamber's position that a Port Townsend-Seattle passenger ferry run, scheduled each Thursday through Monday, would require a fare box recovery rate of between 40 and 60 percent, plus contributions from community stakeholders.Solution possible
Caldwell said he came away believing that a Puget Sound regional partnership of counties and cities, including Port Townsend, could come up with a solution to the expensive water transportation problem.
"The chamber is a bit of a part-player in this, but the energy is there," he said.
A critical part of the event was a cruise aboard Bellingham-based All American Marine's new high-speed passenger ferry, which Caldwell said traveled from Seattle to Kingston in 23 minutes.
A larger 149-passenger model would be built by the same company to serve a Seattle-Bremerton route.
The highly maneuverable jet-drive passenger ferry burns 110 gallons of fuel an hour, about a third of that used by the state-owned Snohomish, which plied a Port Townsend-Seattle route during the last holiday season in December and January.
The Snohomish was called in to fill the Port Townsend ferry-service gap left after the 80-year-old Steel Electric vehicle ferries were pulled from service permanently.
Bruce Agnew, policy director for Cascadia Center, said that it was difficult to overstate "the important role that passenger-only ferries can and should have as part of the Puget Sound's transportation mix."
"The state's withdrawal from operations certainly opens the door for other alternatives. King County, the Port of Kingston, Bremerton, and Port Townsend are among those who are picking up the leadership pieces.
"We're very pleased to see that."
Tax suggested
Agnew said that Cascadia will suggest regional funding through a motor vehicle excise tax, possibly as high as $50, partly for passenger ferries, terminal improvement and surface water runoff rehabilitation projects.
"But we're going to be interviewing key stakeholders, including people over in Port Townsend, to get their reaction," Agnew said Thursday after the forum.
"It's controversial, we know. It's a lightning rod, but it would start a conversation."
Transportation funding has fallen off significantly since state voters in 1999 approved Initiative 695, limiting car tab fees to a flat $30.
Agnew said that Cascadia believes that voter sentiment may be changing in support of finding a funding solution to the transportation revenue shortfall.
Passenger ferry interest is growing regionally.
King County has formed a passenger-only ferry district to operate the West Seattle Water Taxi, the Vashon Island-Seattle foot ferry and demonstration routes on Puget Sound and Lake Washington.
The Port of Kingston received a $34.5 million federal grant to begin foot ferry service to Seattle.
Other featured forum speakers were Bill Bryant, Port of Seattle commissioner and host; Bremerton Mayor Cary Bozeman; Port of Kingston Executive Director Mike Bookey; Puget Sound Partnership's Chris Townsend; Matt Mullet, CEO of All American Marine; and Stephen Kiehl, director of the Puget Sound Regional Council's regional passenger-only ferry study.
"It's very encouraging to see the enthusiasm among elected leadership and communities to test more passenger ferry operations in the Sound," Agnew said.
"We encourage an interlocal agreement to help pool resources and coordinate regional service.
"The need and will are certainly in alignment.
"Plus, it couldn't be a more exciting time for passenger-only ferry technology."
Cascadia Center launched the Puget Sound Passenger Ferry Coalition nearly five years ago with the aim of developing alliances to expand passenger-only ferry service on the Puget Sound and Lake Washington.
