New Group Is Onboard for Foot Ferries

A new wave in foot ferry leadership, the Puget Sound Passenger Ferry Coalition, will make its official debut on Tuesday at a conference aboard the Royal Argosy at Pier 66 in Seattle.
The coalition is a loose, unofficial group of lawmakers, transit leaders and private business, a veritable who’s who in the local world of maritime transportation.

While their background might vary, their goal doesn’t.

They want to see passenger-only ferries become an integral part of the transportation system in the Puget Sound.

“We wanted to pull together our interests, get everyone on the same page,” said Bruce Agnew, Cascadia Project director at the Discovery Institute, the independent, nonprofit Seattle think tank that’s helping with the event.

To aid this goal, they’ve organized the “Floating Forum” conference, which will bring together 250 people for one of the most ambitious conversations ever devoted solely to passenger-only ferries.

What’s the impetus of this conversation?

Two things: Kitsap Transit’s passenger-only ferry plan, and the possibility of more federal dollars for ferries being included in the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century, which is up for re-authorization this year.

State-run passenger-only ferries might be dead in the water — funding for Bremerton’s will end in September, Vashon’s in two years — but that hasn’t killed interest in the vessels.

People all over the sound have been thinking of how to introduce fast ferries in their own regions for some time, Agnew said. When Kitsap Transit got legislation pushed through this spring that allowed it to use local tax money to fund a fast-ferry system, people took notice.

That’s because Kitsap Transit’s plan has some key components that everyone likes. It’s a public-private venture, which private operators say is imperative. The plan calls for small vessels, which makes for less-costly infrastructure and operations. Most important, though — the part people say is pivotal — is that the plan calls for a seamless transportation system, linking the foot ferries with public transportation on land.

“The ultimate goal is to get people from their home to a destination and back without them getting in their cars,” said Michael Bennett, owner of Mosquito Fleet, a private foot ferry operation based in Everett.

Agnew agreed.

“Kitsap Transit is into the business of buses. So they really understand this,” he said.

Agnew said people from all over the sound would be looking to see if they could use Kitsap Transit’s plan as a blueprint.

As for funding, the time has come again for Congress to figure out how TEA 21 funds will be doled out in the next six years. U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., who will attend the conference, submitted legislation Thursday that would quadruple federal ferry support, from $38 million to $150 million per year.

“If that bill were to pass it would make the pot of money bigger for ferries, which is important,” Agnew said. “We really wanted to show our support for that.”

Reach reporter Niki King at (360) 792-9210 or at nking@thesunlink.com.