Reality Number One: Washington State Ferries need more money to operate, and more money still to make capital improvements.
Reality Number Two: The state doesn’t have the money, and there are a lot of other demands for any new transportation bucks, leading to…
Reality Number Three: Fares have to go up.
Given the Three Realities, we think the Tariff Policy Committee has done the best it could with its recommendation for this year’ s round of fare increases. While the overall increase is in the neighborhood of 12.5 percent, it’s not evenly distributed – some fares will rise more than others.
Particularly hard-hit is the price of a 10-ride ticket book for passengers. Those books, widely used by regular ferry riders, will go from $31.50 to $41, a hefty 30 percent boost.
But far from targeting daily commuters, the TPC would give them a huge break by reducing the price of the hitherto obscure monthly pass from $66.20 to $61.20.
To date, the monthly pass has been little used because it hasn’t made much economic sense. With ticket-book rides at $3.15 each, a rider would have to make 22 trips in a month for the pass to be cheaper, and only a couple of months have 22 or more “commuter days” – workdays less holidays. Not only have the passes been useless, but they are hard to get, being available only over Internet.
Not surprisingly, ticket books have been the “gold standard” for commuters. But that should change with the new pass. A rider will need to make only 15 monthly roundtrips to make the pass cheaper than the $4.10 ticket-book tickets. In fact, a rider who makes 20 trips a month – an average work-month – will actually pay less next year for a monthly pass than that rider is paying this year for two books of tickets.
The TPC believes the monthly pass will become the norm for daily commuters, as they will cost less and be available at ticket booths. Ten-ticket books will still be cheaper than one-shot fares – $4.10 to $5 – but the gap will narrow.
The guiding philosophy, TPC chair Alice Tawresey tells us, is to give a break to those who use the ferry daily for commuting – those whose livelihoods depend upon the boats.
The unspoken corollary is that those of us who use the boats less frequently will have to pay more. We have little problem with that idea; we assume those of us who visit Seattle for a ball game or a concert can scrape up the additional 95 cents that a ferry ride will cost us.
If it’s any comfort to us residents, the TPC is getting even more aggressive about “inviting” tourists to pick up more of the tab. On San Juan Island runs, pricing will nick those traveling late in the week and on weekends, with a 20 percent summer surcharge on both passengers and autos.
As with any basic change in fares, it’s possible to find situations that may seem unfair. While one reader grumbles that his daughter’s ferry tab for classes at the UW three days a week will go up 30 percent, it’s still only a boost of $11.40 a month – a worthwhile investment for a college education. And while not all occasional trips to Seattle are discretionary – we’re thinking of medical appointments – we hope those are infrequent enough that we can survive.
In an ideal world, none of this would be necessary. But in a world where the Three Realities prevail, there’s no alternative.
