Even though a sales tax increase to support a passenger ferry has yet to be addressed by the voters, Kitsap Transit has already lined up the boats to service the initial route.

Two vessels, the Melissa Ann and the Spirit, are already in Kitsap Transit’s fold. These would be used on the Bremerton-Seattle route, which would be in service by the summer.

The Kingston-Seattle route, scheduled to begin in October, would use boats that operate in Alaska during the summer. Kitsap Transit would lease those vessels.

Kitsap Transit Director Dick Hayes said the Alaska boats pull in a full year’s income during the summer season and usually do not make money for their owners in the winter. This lease will change the equation, and Hayes feels the boat’s owners may continue the contract through Summer 2008.

In order to service future routes, Hayes said Kitsap Transit would purchase new boats outright. He said a 149-passenger boat would cost around $5 million and a 80-passenger boat about half that.

Hayes expects any boat commissioned for local routes will be built in Washington state.

Currently, the Spirit is making one morning and one afternoon run on the Bremerton-Seattle route in an active test that will stop if the initiative is defeated.

If the measure is passed, Hayes said Kitsap Transit will meet with passengers in order to develop a schedule.

Tentatively, the route would run eight trips per day: three in the morning, one around midday, three in the evening and one in the late evening.

The election is being conducted by mail, and ballots for the Feb. 6 election should have already arrived in voters’ mailboxes.

At issue is the approval of a 0.3 percent sales tax increase, which breaks down to an additional 30 cents for every $100 purchase.

Voters defeated a passenger ferry initiative in 2003 that included both a property tax and sales tax increase. This time, there is no property tax increase proposed.

If the motion is defeated, Hayes said it would not be proposed again in the foreseeable future.