With cars clogging morning and afternoon commuter ferries, and boats running nearly empty midday, Washington State Ferries is looking for ways of getting users to shift their riding behaviors.

Would peak-hour fare increases, and off-peak discounts get passengers to switch up their schedules?

It’s one of many questions WSF planners are asking in a series of community workshops now under way, as they hone strategies to be incorporated in long-range pricing and operations plan to be developed this winter.

In 2007, the Legislature tasked WSF with developing strategies to maximize use of existing ferries and facilities. This month ferry users have a chance to influence how much they will pay, and how they will be served by ferries in the future.

WSF chief David Moseley and his crew of planners will be on Bainbridge Monday, June 23 for a workshop at the Commons on Brien Drive, then at the Kingston Yacht Club June 24. All meetings run from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.

What WSF wants to emphasize, spokesperson Joy Goldenberg said, is that all options are open for discussion. Public input gathered will be incorporated as the agency begins to solidify its long-range plans in September.

“There are so many strategies on the table to talk about,” Goldenberg said.

This round of workshops focuses on two policy strategies for controlling demand: pricing and reservations.

When it comes to fare pricing, WSF is looking to balance the carrot and stick in its approach to dispersing some of the vehicle congestion that peaks on morning and afternoon commuter runs.

Both peak-hour fare increases, and off-peak fare discounts are up for discussion, though WSF isn’t saying how much more, or less, the fares would change. Goldenberg said planners will be asking citizens attending the workshops if and how these strategies would shift their riding behaviors.

Commuters have rallied against the idea of peak-hour fare increases in the past.

Martha Burke, who chairs the Bainbridge Ferry Advisory Council and the Executive Committee of FACs, hopes islanders turn out Monday meeting to have their own voices heard, but said on a personal level she sees “demand management” policies like peak-fare increases as perilous waters for WSF.

Burke noted the recent Transportation Commission survey that showed only 4 percent of peak-hour riders are able to switch to off-peak runs. Charging more for those rush-hour runs will put an added burden on riders of commuter routes like Kingston, Bremerton and Bainbridge, she said.

“They call it demand management, to reduce vehicles on commuter routes,” Burke said. “Who is going to be affected by that? It’s primarily going to be us, it’s Bainbridge Island.”

With plenty of room for passengers, but a finite space for vehicles, WSF is also considering ways of pricing fares to encourage walk-ons, bicycles and car pooling.

Planners will float the idea of a graduated-fare scale based on how much space a vehicle takes up – one that could differentiate not just between a sedan and a school bus, but between an SUV and a hatchback.

A reservation program is already being tested in Port Townsend, and it’s being looked at for routes systemwide.

Reservations would be used only for vehicles, and WSF planners believe the system could reduce long queues of cars waiting to buy first-come-first-serve ferry tickets.

Tickets for the Port Townsend ferry can be reserved online or over the phone. Passengers select the time and date of the run they want and the type and size of their vehicle.

Then they must show up at least a half hour early to claim their spot, and vehicles without reservations can standby to be loaded into unreserved spots.

Tim Caldwell, manager of the Port Townsend Chamber of Commerce and member of the Jefferson County FAC, said the reservation system has been well received, especially by visitors.

“They really love that they can get a reservation, and then go anywhere in town, and come back to the boat and not have to line up,” Caldwell said.

Locals, he said, have also gotten used to the system, and know which runs they need reservations for and which they board from standby.

Walt Elliot of the Kingston FAC said it’s a system that could be useful in Kingston, where already cars are overflowing the ferry holding lane along Highway 104.

“You have cars kind of straddling the fog line, and that can shut down the highway,” Elliot said.

Goldenberg said attendees of the meetings will be encouraged to comment on other potential WSF policies.

Among them are strategies to improve transit and car pooling access to terminals, streamline fare collection, enhance pedestrian and bicycle amenities, and generally improve use of terminal space.

Elliot said there are a few things he would like to hear that are not on the agenda, such as how WSF’s plans to study the impacts new policies would have on communities, and how level of service standards will be set and maintained.

But as long as the meetings allow a free dialogue, it should be a positive forum, Elliot said.

“The object is for people to walk away from the meeting saying, ‘We’ve been able to say our