To a group of Lopezians, the difference of half an hour meant possibly losing their jobs.
The summer ferry schedule had the first boat from Lopez to Anacortes arriving at 8 a.m. In the past, the earliest boat arrived at 7:20 a.m. Although Washington State Ferries published a draft and invited public comments, it wasn’t until after the schedule was printed that public discord became known.
Lopezian Susan Young, who commutes to the East Coast frequently for business, says there isn’t any coordination between Washington State Ferries (WSF) and the Airporter Shuttle. She says that with the summer schedule, she would have missed the shuttle by five minutes.
“I often need to catch a flight out of Seattle or Bellingham,” she said. “If there isn’t a ferry (leaving Lopez) around 6:40 a.m., it is nearly impossible to get a flight. There are a lot of people who are daily or weekly commuters to jobs on the mainland. If you are consumer, getting there at 8 a.m is not a problem. But if you work at that store, that is an issue.”
Young contacted as many WSF employees as she could, and other Lopez residents wrote to state representatives. After hearing their concerns, WSF Assistant Secretary David Moseley added a Lopez stop at 6:25 a.m. to accommodate the commuters.
“I am thrilled,” Young said. “I would like to be more proactive in the future. I understand that what they are trying to do is a difficult task. But I think when the legislature said to the ferries, ‘you have to be on time and save money,’ I don’t think they meant cutting runs.”
As the summer schedule has already gone to press, the sailing is not on the current printed edition. The boat is coming from Friday Harbor, but will not be off-loading any vehicles to Lopez in order to save time.
“It’s going to make the Yakima run a little late but they think they can make it up,” said San Juan County Ferry Advisory Committee (FAC) Chair Howie Rosenfeld said. “Worse case scenario, it will run late in the morning, but then it takes a break mid-day, so after that it will be back on schedule.”
Rosenfeld said the lesson he learned is to “be careful when you change anything on the schedule – there might be a constituency that depends on it.”
The FAC has established a new Web site to accept comments on ferry service and draft ferry schedules: here Two drafts of the fall 2010 schedule are available for review now. Both options take into account new Coast Guard-mandated constraints on operations, including the elimination of “touring watches.”
Another limitation compared to spring operations is that the 124-car Chelan will be out of service for maintenance and be replaced by the 144-car Elwah on the international run. The 90-car Sealth will then sub for the Elwha on the mainland run, reducing capacity on those sailings.
The option one schedule is very similar to the Spring 2010 schedule. Option two shifts the Sidney run earlier in order to provide more capacity in the afternoon. This results in some changes to sailing times which will help some, but may cause problems for others.
In discussions at its meeting Wednesday, members of the FAC acknowledged that neither schedule option will satisfy everyone.
The committee hopes to receive input on the two schedule options from a wide range of ferry users. It asks that comments and suggestions be as specific as possible, noting that comments such as “these both stink” are not of much help.
Ferry users can comment either through the FAC Feedback page or by emailing Washington State Ferries at: wsfplanning@wsdot.wa.gov. Comments entered either way will be shared by WSF and FAC; however, comments posted on the FAC page will also appear online, usually within 24 hours.
“We’re trying to get that dialogue going,” Rosenfeld said. “We’re trying to use technology so they can let us know what their needs are.”
