State Ferries Director David Moseley is expected to discuss the options at a community meeting here later this week.
The Ferries Division was asked to reduce expenditures by 4 percent, which equates to nearly $17 million. This is in addition to the $27.7 million annually in reductions the ferry system has achieved over the past 2 years in administrative, operation and capital expenses. That's with no service reductions.
The options which the ferry system has proposed include reductions to administrative positions, overtime, travel time/mileage, non-mandatory training, and, as a last resort, service on our routes.
Service cuts under consideration include:
Anacortes/Sidney, B.C.
- Service only provided 32 weeks/year vs. 40 weeks currently
Anacortes/San Juan Islands
- Reduced service hours for 8 weeks fall/spring vs. currently.
- Reduced capacity by 20 car spaces on one vessel in the 14 week summer
San Juan Interisland
- Reduced hours in fall and spring and reduction in capacity of 23 car spaces per sailing
State Senate Transportation Committee chair Mary Margaret Haugen, in a recent newsletter, said, “It’s possible we may have to live with reduced services while we live within the state’s diminished means, but anyone who knows me knows reducing ferry service is a last resort for me."
She added, “The reality is that the ferry system has struggled for funding ever since voters approved Tim Eyman’s Initiative 695 in 1999 that severely reduced the MVET revenues that largely funded our ferries. Fighting to maintain ferry service has been an annual exercise every since."
Moseley will discuss the state of the ferry system and options for saving money during a meeting with the Anacortes Rotary Club on Wednesday, Nov. 10 at noon. Please RSVP to 293-8088 or email Duane Clark at