Foot Ferries

House Bill Supports New Passenger Ferries, Sets One Aside for Northwest Washington

(Feb. 6, 2009--Bellingham, Wash.) A new bill in Olympia would direct the state Department of Transportation to buy five passenger-only ferries, and it would set aside one of them for service in Northwest Washington. The bill, proposed by Rep. Doug Ericksen, R-Ferndale, would set up the framework for spending $25 million in federal stimulus money for transit to buy high-speed passenger boats. Advocates say that brings their effort to establish a route between Friday Harbor and Bellingham closer to reality. "If the feds come in with the boat, then all of a sudden the economics of the thing start looking pretty positive," said Bruce Agnew, program director at the Seattle-based Cascadia Center, which has studied passenger ferry routes here. He's also a member of the Farmhouse Gang, an informal group of leaders that helped kick-start the bus route between Bellingham and Mount Vernon and now wants the ferry service. More here. Read More ›

Rep. Ericksen’s Bill Would Allow Spending $25 Million For Passenger Ferries

This article, published by The Bellingham Herald, mentions the Cascadia Center of Discovery Institute: On Monday, Tom Jones of the Seattle-based Cascadia Center for Regional Development, which has worked with the Farmhouse Gang and has reprentation on the group, told state representatives there’s wide interest in a Bellingham to Friday Harbor service. The rest of the article can be found Read More ›

More Details On How The Bellingham To Friday Harbor Ferry Service Could Work

This article, published by The Bellingham Herald, quotes Discovery Institute Fellow Bruce Agnew: Of all of the efforts to establish new passenger ferry service in Puget Sound, the effort to get a boat between Friday Harbor and Bellingham is the ripest, said Bruce Agnew, program director at the Seattle-based Cascadia Center. The rest of the article can be found here.

Public Subsidy Would Be Required For Public Transit, Passenger Ferry

This article, published by The Journal of The San Juans, mentions the Cascadia Center of Discovery Institute: The summit was sponsored by Cascadia Center for Regional Development, Orcas Island Chamber of Commerce, … San Juan Islands Visitors Bureau, San Juan Island Library and the Town of Friday Harbor. The rest of the article can be found here.

Foot Ferry Of The Future

Bruce Agnew was on KOMO – 4 TV to talk about ferries, car tabs, and cleaning up Puget Sound. You can watch the video here.

A Lot To Gain From Passenger-only Ferry Service

Passenger-only ferries should be crisscrossing the Salish Sea, breaching political boundaries in Puget Sound, as they did when Native American and First Nation tribes used these waterways for trading and socializing. Regional funding can support joint car and passenger ferry docks, terminals and maintenance facilities. It can leverage private capital investment, relieving the beleaguered ferry capital budget for long-ignored terminals, Read More ›

FOOT FERRIES: MORE!

Welcome, new visitors and old friends. If you’ve landed here after reading our Sunday, Feb. 10 op-ed in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer titled, “Imagine A Network Of Foot Ferries,” you’ll find the additional links below worth exploring. Cascadia contact information at bottom. Principles For An Interlocal Agreement On Expanded Puget Sound Passenger-Only Ferry Service,” Cascadia Center, 12/07. KIRO-7 TV report on Read More ›

Imagine A Network Of Foot Ferries – Our Century’s “Forward Thrust” For Puget Sound

Over the holidays, lucky travelers got a “back to the future” moment on the Salish Sea when Washington State Ferries provided direct passenger-only service — on the mothballed MV Snohomish — between downtown Seattle and the iconic seaside town of Port Townsend. The temporary route began after the state pulled the old Steel Electric car ferries off the Port Townsend-Whidbey Read More ›

Memorandum Brief: Principles For An Interlocal Agreement On Expanded Puget Sound Passenger-Only Ferry Service

Addressed to the Kitsap Regional Coordinating Council’s Puget Sound Leadership Ferry Summit, Friday December 7, 2007, Bremerton, WA, by Cascadia Center For Regional Development, Discovery Institute. Contact: Bruce Agnew, Director, 206-292-0401 x 113, 206-228-4011 (c), bagnew@discovery.org. IN JULY 2003, ABOARD an Argosy vessel, Cascadia Center launched the Puget Sound Passenger Ferry Coalition, with the aim of developing alliances to expand Read More ›