Re: “Use passenger boats to ease WA ferry crisis” [Dec. 18, Editorials]:
Ferry-dependent islanders agree, passenger-only can be a sport changer for the crisis-level automobile ferry dysfunction we’re experiencing.
Tens of hundreds of Washingtonians are routinely unable to get to or from work and college, important medical appointments, occasions, or simply to buy or see family and friends as a result of our ferry is canceled or has lengthy delays. The Evergreen State is a frontrunner in defending the environment in some ways, however in relation to shifting folks throughout the water, there’s an enormous disconnect.
“Foot ferries” or “water taxis” have a dependable on-time monitor file, and make it a lot simpler to go carless and get the place we’re going utilizing public transit. However, for instance, the water taxi between downtown Seattle and Vashon Island solely runs throughout “commuter” hours within the early morning and late afternoon. With no noon, evenings or weekend runs, it solely works for a small proportion of us.
Increasing passenger ferry service is a win-win: serving to folks get the place they should go and decreasing automobile congestion and air pollution whereas the state works to repair the inequitable lack of entry to transportation for island communities.
Kristin Hyde, Vashon
