By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
The task force originally convened to tackle trouble on the Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth state-ferry route is now reviewing two draft options for the route’s first schedule change in a long time.
The drafts were unveiled when the Triangle Route Task Force met Wednesday in Fauntleroy, its last meeting until November. It was a joint meeting with members of the route’s three Ferry Advisory Committees, some of whom also are on the task force. The drafts are one of the last steps until a proposed new schedule is goes out for public comment this fall, aimed at finalization by the first of the year and implementation next June.
Ferry system boss Amy Scarton sat in on the start of the meeting; she opened it by thanking everyone for their service. “This route is so unique,” she said, with its own task force “to work on solutions.” She said she had spent an hour earlier in the day with the UW researchers who are studying some issues on the route. She also listed some of the unique factors of the route, from the Southworth growth to the Fauntleroy dock’s renovation needs. “You can’t really find a silver bullet but there are a lot of ideas to throw on the table.”
The presentation was led by WSF service planner Justin Resnick, who said he had joined WSF just four months ago from elsewhere in WSDOT. He noted that the task force had reviewed some individual daypart possibilities in recent months and now he’s “stitched together” some possibilities into full-day options, which he stressed are “in no way set in stone.”
He said he’s spent a lot of time studying “dwell times,” which involve unloading/loading, destination(s), traveler mix. That gets to the crux of what’s vexed riders lately – boats leaving without being full because they couldn’t spend more “dwell time.” Between frequent/full/on-time boats, “we can’t have all three.” He reminded everyone that the route will have a third Issaquah-class vessel soon – but since it’s already struggling, there will be more challenges when that bigger boat joins the route. He listed the 10 types of data he’s been going through.
Then, the draft options – #1 is below, AM in the first image, PM in the second:
Looking at proposed option #1 – “school sailings” in the morning and afternoon weren’t changed. “Primary difference for morning and midday, two things that would change – a 7:25 departure out of Southworth instead of an 8:20 – that means the 7:20 single destination that used to be Vashon only is now a dual destination, and the 8:20 now becomes Vashon only. Affecting the midday and afternoon, “we took the #2 boat and did a tie-up with it – from 11:30 to 12:35 on Vashon, the #2 boat is doing its crew change,” so it can be used later in the evening “clearing out Fauntleroy.” So there’s no departure between 11:55 and 12:55 at Fauntleroy, as a result. “The other thing that happens in this schedule is an overhaul in the afternoon and early afternoon,” Resnick continued, relying almost exclusively on dual destination sailings. “What we’re really trying to do with this schedule is serve the peak direction,”so this is geared toward “unload(ing) Fauntleroy.” It attempts to build in more dwell time and set up a “more consistent pattern of where the boats are going.” That pattern starts at 3 pm. “The dwell times at Fauntleroy are going to … average 20 minutes. We know that’s one of the issues really killing us right now, the dwell time at Fauntleroy.” There will be one less sailing from Fauntleroy, but Resnick is confident that they will be able to fill the boats, and ultimately increase capacity when a larger boat joins the route at the same time the schedule changes. “We may not have to stick with the same loading-lane layout …we’re not going to be as much slaves to the same traffic mix” as now, Resnick said. “It’s going to be more, if you’re here we can get you on.” But … it might take you longer to get home, if, say, your sailing is stopping at Vashon on the way to Southworth rather than going there directly. “Currently we have higher ridership out of Vashon – but Southworth is growing, of course.”
Here is draft schedule option #2:
This one overhauls the morning, while the first one had more of an afternoon overhaul. This one has the same overall cycle time – 95 minutes (round trip) – and like the first option, does drop a trip. “This schedule is going to have a little more space for growth in the morning,” Resnick said. That would be important in case ferries’ improved performance led to more people taking the ferry and fewer driving around (although a later set of stats showed that there hadn’t been much of a boom in Tacoma Narrows Bridge traffic in recent years). There’s also a tweak that would improve getting Southworth riders to Vashon so they can catch the Water Taxi to downtown Seattle.
Some other points: Option 1 would have higher capacity during 5 am-9 am, Option 2 would have about the same. Both would have less capacity 3-6 pm. Resnick also reviewed allotments – maximum number of vehicles that can be loaded eastbound at Southworth.
Small-group discussions ensued.
The first group’s discussion was recapped with points including Fauntleroy preferring #2, Southworth frustration about option #1 not fixing anything, people with jobs in Vashon not being accommodated.
The second group had concerns about Southworth-Vashon travel taking longer, and the 6:40 am not accommodating people who needed to – for example – drop off a child at day care before getting on a ferry. To get to downtown at 8:30 am, you would have to be at the Southworth dock at 6 am, they suggested.
The third group preferred the first option, and wondered about going to a “full all-stop schedule” from 2:45 pm on.
What about seasonal considerations? Resnick said they’ve noticed that “summer” seems to start sooner – like Mother’s Day. In long-range planning, he said, there’s discussion that a two-season schedule for WSF might make more sense than a four-season schedule.
They went around the room before meeting’s end, asking for individual members’ opinions. They acknowledged there would be trade-offs – as one rep put it, resetting the schedule to benefit most, while realizing it would not be better for some. Many members saw promise in both. “Added dwell time would add reliability,” said Fauntleroy’s Gary Dawson – especially to help cover variables from cars stalling on board to medical runs. On the other hand, a participant from Southworth said he couldn’t support either one and figured everyone would be mad about the changes, but especially Southworth because it would lose more than 70 spaces in the course of a day. The current ridership from there “is completely limited by WSF – we don’t know what it would be” if the capacity didn’t have a lid. A Vashon rep said that “balance” would be a “tough” thing to achieve.
Resnick said he had considered a variety of options such as Fauntleroy/Southworth/Vashon for multi-destination boats but threw that out because Vashon ridership is still higher, though he could revisit that if recommended.
One group member said that a public observer (who was gone by meeting’s end) represented 30 Water Taxi riders who would appreciate Option 2. Resnick said he hadn’t gone to “our transit partners yet” to talk about whether they could work on connectivity – he wanted to first see how task-force and FAC members reacted.
So WSF also asked them all to mull things over for the next two weeks and send further comments. WSF’s Jon Vezina implored them to ensure that anyone else with whom they discuss the drafts is aware they are only drafts – the proposal that goes out for public comment in fall might combine elements of both … or might resemble neither.
NEXT STEPS: The Triangle Route Task Force won’t meet again until November. Much will happen in the meantime – first, WSF’s draft long-range plan will be out September 10th, and a series of public meetings will solicit comment. Those will be followed by, in mid- to late-October, public meetings about the proposed new F/V/S sailing schedule, once there’s a final proposal taking into account suggestions from this level of feedback.
Then when the task force reconvenes in November, said WSF’s Hadley Rodero, they’ll “sift through” public feedback and other comments. Meanwhile, the long-range plan will be moving toward delivery to the Legislature on January 1st. And UW researchers’ study of the route is due by year’s end.
And then whatever new schedule is adopted would be launched next June.
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