Port Mails Passenger Only Ferry Plan to Gov. Gregoire

Further grants sought to help ferry stay afloat during start-up.

North Kitsap Herald – November 3, 2007

Annie Tietje

Following the announcement of receiving a $3.5 million Ferry Boat Discretionary Program grant that will help buoy a new passenger ferry

Service, the Port of Kingston has mailed a business plan and request for $900,000 in grant funding to propel the route through a four year start-up phase.

Port manager Mike Bookey said he overnighted the 35 page business plan I and cover letter to Gov. Christine Gregoire Wednesday to make the Thursday,

Legislative deadline. He said the plan itself is basic, and doesn't yet include details of working with groups, like Aqua Express, Kitsap Transit or the Kingston Express Association. "The county commissioners sighed it, as well as the executive director of Kitsap Transit and the three port commissioners,"

he said. "It's a general plan, we haven’t included too many details yet."

The business proposal does include how the port will succeed at running passenger only ferry after Aqua Express' attempt failed two years ago. Lower

overall revenues and ridership forced the service to sink after less than a year of the route from January to October 2005.

“Learning from Aqua-Express’ experience, the Port of Kingston’s business plan is a different approach to providing service,” the letter states. “The Port of Kingston proposes to start service with much smaller vessels that consume tens of gallons per hour rather than the hundreds of gallons of fuel per hour used by Aqua-Express’ much larger vessels. The service will begin with the expectation of serving 80 round-trip passengers daily and growing slowly over time. Fares will be higher but competitive with alternative modes of commuter travel to downtown Seattle. Finally, the port will leverage its existing operations and staff to keep administrative expenses to a minimum.”

The port plans to purchase two ferries to restart the service. One, the port will either have built or buy brand new, and the second will be bought as a backup in case the first boat requires maintenance. Port of Kingston Commissioner Pete DeBoer said now port officials will wail to see what the governor thinks of the proposal before taking the next steps towards getting the run started. The grant already awarded is not expected to come through until

next summer.

In the meantime, DeBoer said the port has plenty of projects to keep it busy, including completing a new plaza with a fountain next to the port office building next week. The commissioners and Bookey are also working on a small, non-motorized boat shed and an outdoor performing arts center.

"It's pumping water right now," DeBoer said of the new water feature. "Well, we're going to have a plaza around it, and we'll hopefully have that done at the end of next week. People coming off the ferry are kind of tired of walking through that area, it has been kind of a mess."

The small boat shed is in the design process currently, and should be ready for the permitting process in the near future. The arts center is also being sketched out, and could be constructed as early as next spring, he said."

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