I love the Washington State Ferries. I want the ferry system to be healthy and vital, and I hope it remains the iconic symbol of Puget Sound and the San Juan Islands that, throughout my lifetime, it always has been.
But the ferry system hasn’t been looking so healthy of late. The future looks…um…kinda foggy. I’m concerned about it, but I don’t claim to really understand what’s going on.
Which is one of the reasons I read Captain Richard Rodriguez’s BitterEnd blog. Over the past couple of years, BitterEnd has become the go-to clearing house for information on the ferry crisis. Not just news from traditional sources, but also scuttlebutt from anonymous “inside” sources as well.
One of BitterEnd’s regular readers, Amanda L. from Southworth, recently sent him an update which included this:
I’m not sure you’re still covering WSF items, but these fine folk are currently hosting community meetings to tell commuters and users of the Ferry System all about the TWO options available to us. A) Do nothing, continue crappy service and run gazillions in the red, or B) Cut service willy-nilly all over. Except Bainbridge Island. But that is a rant for another day…
There is currently an attempt to organize a “March on Olympia” on Feb. 17 around lunchtime to convey to our legislators that the Ferry Community is less than pleased with how WSF funding and management is being handled.
If you’re interested in getting the inside scoop on the event, keep a weather eye on BitterEnd.
