“Rep. Phil Rockefeller’s ambitious proposal to more than triple the portion of the gas tax dedicated to the ferry system sank without a hearing. But the Bainbridge Island Democrat believes that with the idea sown, his proposal may return in some other form.This was a way of making a statement about the need to recapitalize the ferry system, Rockefeller said Friday, and to stake a claim on any new revenue source that might emerge.Currently, about 1.1 cent of the 23-cent-per-gallon state gasoline tax is dedicated to the ferry system. The Rockefeller bill would have upped the dedicated portion of 4.75 cents. Each penny of tax produces about $33 million per year.The difficulty, though, is that Rockefeller’s plan would have absorbed roughly a third of the money that goes to the state for highway purposes, for which there are many competing demands. The bill would also have removed the ferry system from the state Department of Transportation and created a separate ferry department.The bill died without a hearing in the House Transportation Committee, of which Rockefeller is a member.I’m hopeful this will come up again in the context of a new revenue package, Rockefeller said.With March 8 the last day for bills to advance from committee, Rep. Beverly Woods’ ferry-system bill suffered the same fate. The Poulsbo Republican’s measure would have required the ferry system to make an annual report to the Legislature breaking out maintenance costs, which are charged to the ferry operating budget. Woods has argued that maintenance costs should not be borne by fare-payers.Meanwhile, the Tariff Policy Committee that recommends ferry fares levels has responded to a barrage of criticism from passengers and politicians, by dramatically reducing its recommended fares for passenger-only ferries.The TPC had proposed jacking up fares on the fast passenger-only boats, including those on the Bremerton-Seattle run, from the present $3.70 roundtrip to $9. The new proposal caps the increase at $6.50.We wanted to be responsive to our ridership, and we didn’t want to increase fares so much that ridership would drop and you would lose revenue overall, said TPC chair Alice Tawresey of Bainbridge Island.It doesn’t do any good to have a ferry system that nobody rides, she said.The revised proposal came after a day-long meeting Monday to evaluate public comments gathered during February meetings at which harsh criticisms were heard of the passenger-boat fare hike.The proposal to raise car-ferry fares 20 percent remains unchanged, Tawresey said. There was only limited criticism of that part of the plan at the public meetings.Bainbridge ferry users will get their chance to comment on the package at an open house from 4 to 7 p.m. on March 14 at the ferry terminal. The session had been scheduled for Feb. 28, but that day’s earthquake forced a two-week postponement. The feedback we’re getting suggests that the new proposal is a good compromise, Tawresey said.Under the recommendation, round-trip passenger fares on auto boats would increase from $3.70 to $4.50. Ten-trip coupon books would go from $26 to $31.50.Car-and-driver fares would go from the current $6.50 each way to $8.The Transportation Commission will hold a hearing on the TPC’s recommendations from 8 to 12 a.m. on March 28 in the old city council chambers on the fourth floor of the King County Courthouse at 516 3rd Avenue. After that hearing, the commission will set the new fares, which will go into effect on May 13.601 limit liftedMost ferry-related bills failed to advance from committee this week.The House Transportation Committee did, though, clear the way for fare increases by approving a bill to exempt ferry them from Initiative 601. That voter-passed measure limits spending increases to the rate of inflation – this year, 3 percent. The vote to exempt fares was 21-8. Both Woods and Rockefeller voted against it.The timing was wrong, Woods said. There is less incentive to come up with money from the state to provide for the system if fare increases are already approved. We need the rest of the plan first.Woods was pleased that the TPC rejected a fare plan from Kitsap County Commissioner Tim Botkin that would have subsidized passenger-only fares by a further increase in auto-boat fares.Botkin had argued that passenger boats deserved a subsidy because they kept traffic off the streets. Both Woods and Tawresey said there was no justification for increasing passenger fares on one type of boat to subsidize passengers on another type.The TPC also decided against looking too far into the future. While the original TPC fare plan called for additional increases through the year 2006, those were dropped in favor of a wait-and-see approach. We will evaluate what this fare increase does to ridership, Tawresey said. If it drops off significantly, we might slow the increase. If there is no drop or only a small drop, we can be more aggressive.The TPC recommended raising fares to the point that customers pay 80 percent of ferry operating costs. At present, the auto ferries recover some 62 percent of costs through fares. The passenger-only ferries generate only about 30 percent of their costs from fare-payers.Capital woes Even with the fare increases, the ferry system must find some $100 million each year in capital funds and another $10 to $15 million in operational subsidies to replace money lost by repeal of the value-based Motor Vehicle Excise Tax.Meanwhile, a transportation-funding package proposed by a bipartisan coalition of East Sound legislators got a chilly reaction from Kitsap County representatives because of the possible impact on the ferry system.The proposal put forth by Sens. Dan MacDonald (R-Bellevue) and Margarita Prentice (D-Seattle) would form a regional transportation district to pay for big-ticket improvements like expansion of Highway 405 through Bellevue. But the district excludes Kitsap County, and would not fund ferries.Sen. Betti Sheldon (D-Bremerton) said areas in the new district might feel themselves taxed enough, and would have less incentive to support the ferries.Rockefeller agreed. I’m concerned about wealthy communities across the sound trying to build a corral around their resources, he said.Saying that the West Sound lacks the resources to pay for the ferry system, Rockefeller said a regional approach should include Kitsap County along with King, Snohomish and Pierce counties.But I think, and the House transportation committee co-chairs think, that we’re probably a year away from talking about regional approaches, he said. If you do that before you look at the state responsibilities, what’s to keep the state from off-loading onto those entities. “