Bainbridge officials back a bill to force ‘an alternate course’ for WSF.

You had me at “fare freeze.”

That line may well sum up the mostly amorous feelings toward ferry legislation that would prevent fare hikes until a new financing framework is completed.

But beneath the appeal of less pain at the toll booth lurk lesser-asked questions about how the commuter-friendly proposal would impact the future of the Bainbridge ferry terminal, set for renovation in 2009.

For example, what does a two-year delay usually do to a large-scale planning effort?

“It can be quite devastating,” said Washington State Ferries Director of Terminal Engineering John White, speaking of past projects deserted and then resumed. “You can’t just send everyone home for two years and then snap your fingers to get back on track.”

Fueling the question is a bill sponsored by Rep. Christine Rolfes that, along with freezing fares, could delay work on the Bainbridge terminal for at least two years.

The bill has cleared the House and awaits a Senate vote in the coming weeks.

The Bainbridge Democrat said it has changed from its original form – most notably in the removal of the fare freeze by the Senate – but still could lead to peak pricing and limits on the use of ticket dollars for construction projects, along with several other revamps designed to improve efficiency.

Among the latest to sign on are Mayor Darlene Kordonowy and the Bainbridge City Council, who last week sent a joint letter to Gov. Chris Gregoire in support of the legislation.

“The Washington State Ferries are the marine highway that links us economically and culturally to the Puget Sound region,” the letter says. “This bill will provide an alternate course, support the Transportation Committee’s audit recommendations and will encourage more efficient use of the existing assets and tax dollars.”

It refers several times to capital funding, but makes no specific mention of potential construction delays at the Bainbridge terminal, which is in the midst of an extensive planning effort – occurring conjunctively with city planning – aimed at improving connectivity to and functionality of the aging facility.

At the center of the issue is the connection between farebox revenue and capital projects, of which the ferry system has nearly $1 billion worth planned in the next 10 to 15 years.

A recent ferry financing study by the Legislature estimated WSF has planned some $410 million in unfunded capital projects, a shortfall that has yet to be closed by continually increasing fares.

Some $40 million in funding has already been sapped from the $160 million Bainbridge terminal project budget alone, leaving questions about whether it could be built on time anyway.

Knowing that, proponents of the bill believe halting capital work until the system is fixed makes sense.

“The capital plan for the ferry system doesn’t identify funding sources,” Rolfes said. “Rather than moving ahead and cobbling together projects funded by fare increases we said no, it’s time to rethink this plan.”

But WSF officials say the delay could actually be much longer than two years – maybe even three or four years – should the bill become law, and could have major impacts on already troubled facilities.

That’s because even though work could technically resume in 2011, at the end of a prescribed period, a new design team would likely need extra time to study the project and would end up duplicating much of the work that’s already been done.

That, along with the likely turnover of ferry staff and elected leadership between now and then, has the ferry system worried, according to White.

In addition to the extra wait, he said, the delay could have serious financial implications.

Building costs, which have been rising rapidly of late, would be considerably inflated by the time construction arrived. It’s also possible the ferry system would have to ask for more money to complete smaller, short-term fixes – like safety and preservation work – that would otherwise be addressed by the more comprehensive designs already underway.

White likened the potential delay to one that occurred following an earlier master planning effort in the late 1990s.

In many ways, he said, a delay at this point would be worse than that one because that design team at least had a chance to finish its work before the funding plug was pulled.

Of the three proposed budgets – the House’s, the Senate’s and the Gregoire’s – White said the governor’s is the most ferry-friendly.

The Senate budget, he said, is the most problematic to WSF’s goals of keeping planned work moving forward.

“We’re certainly concerned about the ultimate cost,” he said. “If delays happen either the cost goes up or you end up not delivering as many services – it’s one or the other.”