Post by ferryfast admin on Feb 22, 2008 13:52:01 GMT -5
2/20/2008 9:40:00 AM
Downtown Port Townsend was busier Feb. 16-17 than at any other time since the peak of the Christmas 2007 shopping season. Hotels were booked Saturday night, thanks to the three-day weekend that followed Valentine’s Day, springlike weather and the Discovery Bay Salmon Derby, which attracted about 800 participants.
The vehicle ferry Steilacoom II has restored the highway connection between the Olympic Peninsula and Whidbey Island.
Downtown business has strong weekend
By Blythe Lawrence
January, February and March are generally the slowest months of the year for retail business in Jefferson County.
Coming off a weak holiday shopping season - made worse by the cancellation of vehicle ferry service between Port Townsend and Keystone, but saved from disaster by the passenger ferry to Seattle - business owners are hoping for a productive spring, summer and fall 2008.
There is fresh optimism now that the 50-car ferry Steilacoom II is on the Port Townsend-Keystone route, restoring the State Route 20 connection between the Olympic Peninsula and Whidbey Island.
A little bit of springlike weather and a three-day weekend certainly helped. Last weekend, downtown sidewalks were busier than at any time since the peak of the Christmas season. All the hotels in town were booked for Saturday night - helped along by the Discovery Bay Salmon Derby, which attracted about 800 participants.
"I had the best day since Christmas," Tom Stammer, owner of Folklife, 810 Water St., said of last Saturday and Sunday. He also noted that the foot ferry to Seattle had been great for business.
Yet business owners are still concerned. The national economy and the price of fuel are likely to have some effect on travel. Now, the PT-Keystone route will be served by one ferry during the summer when it normally has two ferries - about 50 cars transported per half-hour instead of at least 118. Will a longer wait time at the Keystone or PT terminals cause travelers to detour completely?
Helen Star, owner of the Wandering Angus Celtic goods store downtown, said one vehicle ferry is certainly better than none, but it's still a worry.
"It's really a disaster waiting to happen in terms of the accessibility to Port Townsend," Star said, noting that many of PT's visitors fall into the category of people "just passing through." Potential three-hour waits from having only one ferry might lead people to bypass the city altogether, she believes.
"I think this idea that the Steilacoom is going to be a be-all and end-all, a panacea, is ludicrous," said Star, who envisions the terminal parking area overflowing. "To think that the Steilacoom is going to be a solution is not thinking."
But Washington State Ferries has service problems on many routes, and according to current plans, the best-case scenario for the PT-Keystone route is the 50-car Steilacoom being alone here until new ferries can be built. WSF is ready to proceed with building one of the 50-car type of ferries, ready to sail in 2009. State officials are still considering the idea, based on the Steilacoom II's rough sea trials here and comments from the Port Townsend Ferry Advisory Committee, that a larger ferry is the better long-term solution. But starting with a new design could mean it would be two or three years before a ferry would be in service.
Steilacoom impact
The state Department of Transportation cancelled vehicle ferry service here last Nov. 20 out of fear the aging Steel Electric ferries had too much rust. Passenger-only service was instituted between PT and Keystone.
Downtown business owners said the passenger ferry Snohomish, which ran between here and Seattle's Pier 50 from Dec. 13 to Jan. 6, helped them survive what otherwise would have been a far slower-than-anticipated holiday season.
"It helped offset the losses," said Rick Unrue, owner of the Belmont restaurant and hotel on Water Street. "Business was still down, but without the passenger ferry it would have been a lot worse."
Unrue said one positive - which he hopes will carry over into the spring and summer - is the amount of regional publicity Port Townsend received. He said a lot of people from the Olympic and Kitsap peninsulas made an effort to come to Port Townsend to support local businesses.
"Now we're into our typically slow time of year and we can only hope out-of-towners will still make an effort to come to Port Townsend," Unrue said.
Marilyn Staples, owner of The Green Eyeshade on Water Street, said she's going to work with her manager to beef up the store's website in anticipation of a slow summer. Businesses that offer sales via websites can still serve regular customers who might choose not to drive here.
"The stopping of that ferry is going to affect us," Staples said. "I assume [business] will slow down quite a bit."
It has been noted that stores that can offer goods on a website, or that have kept email records of a customer base, have an advantage.
Mari Mullen, executive director of the Port Townsend Main Street program, encouraged downtown stores in December to track where their customers were coming from. The reports show a lot of people from the Seattle metropolitan area, along with shoppers from Kitsap and Clallam counties.
"The loss of the vehicle ferry did not stop any of those people from being able to get here," Mullen noted, although some from the Seattle area probably took advantage of the special passenger ferry run.
Passenger ferry hopes
Local business owners who say the passenger ferry from Port Townsend to Seattle saved their Christmas season want to see it continue - even if only on weekends, and even if crossing rates go up.
Steve Reinmuth, Washington State Ferries' acting secretary, said the Seattle-PT run isn't likely to become anything more than a one-time panacea unless the state can figure out a way to offset the ferry's costs.
"There just isn't any real viable way to continue this service," Reinmuth said. "The state of Washington lost $10,000 per day in fuel and other operating costs, even with our standard fare being charged."
Tim Caldwell, general manager of the Port Townsend Chamber of Commerce, said he will press the state for a weekend run from Port Townsend to Seattle during the summer season to help offset having only one vehicle ferry on duty.
"We think the best of all worlds is still very, very possible," Caldwell said. "We just need to take the interest from the temporary run to Seattle and the political leverage that comes from that route and press upon Olympia that there is a solution to those that is more than just the 50-car ferry to Keystone."
Jim Switz, one of the owners of Ichikawa Japanese Cuisine, said he would be happy to see the Seattle passenger ferry return on a weekend basis.
"December, January and February for a lot of our businesses is just survival time," he said. Switz said he thinks passengers who want to go from Port Townsend to Seattle - and vice versa - would be willing to pay a lot more than the $6.70 round-trip fare Washington State Ferries charged for the month the passenger ferry was in service.
"I think people would be willing to pay $15 to $20 for that round-trip," he said. "The trick is to make sure that it's there when people expect."
Based on ridership numbers from Dec. 13 to Dec. 28, WSF lost about $12,000 per day on the Seattle-PT run, meaning it would have had to charge $56 per round trip to break even. However, every ferry route is subsidized.
If business leaders or elected officials could come up with suggestions of how to minimize that per-day loss, however, Reinmuth said WSF might be interested.
"If we could guarantee that we had 600 people to fill that boat at $20, gosh, we'd be willing to listen," he said.
But even if a plan could be formulated, it would still require a vessel, and the Snohomish might be needed elsewhere. Other logistics, including training crews for a passenger-only ferry run, would also need to be addressed.
Planning ahead for 2009
The DOT already plans for a passenger ferry to run between Port Gamble and South Point while the Hood Canal Bridge is closed for an estimated six weeks in May and June 2009. Caldwell said he believes the example set by the PT-Seattle passenger ferry is an argument for why that plan should be reconsidered.
"We're trying to impress upon the DOT that a Seattle-Port Townsend connection, either an auto ferry or passenger ferry, is better," Caldwell said.
Beginning the service now, rather than in May 2009, would give people time to get used to it, he added.
When the Hood Canal Bridge's western half sank in 1979, the DOT operated a vehicle ferry from Edmonds to Port Townsend. The people it brought to this part of the Olympic Peninsula helped spark the burst of growth the town had during the 1980s, Caldwell believes.
"This is a great way to re-create the mood that we had in the early 1980s," he said. "You could almost say that was the igniter that started the tourism industry in Port Townsend."
Downtown Port Townsend was busier Feb. 16-17 than at any other time since the peak of the Christmas 2007 shopping season. Hotels were booked Saturday night, thanks to the three-day weekend that followed Valentine’s Day, springlike weather and the Discovery Bay Salmon Derby, which attracted about 800 participants.
The vehicle ferry Steilacoom II has restored the highway connection between the Olympic Peninsula and Whidbey Island.
Downtown business has strong weekend
By Blythe Lawrence
January, February and March are generally the slowest months of the year for retail business in Jefferson County.
Coming off a weak holiday shopping season - made worse by the cancellation of vehicle ferry service between Port Townsend and Keystone, but saved from disaster by the passenger ferry to Seattle - business owners are hoping for a productive spring, summer and fall 2008.
There is fresh optimism now that the 50-car ferry Steilacoom II is on the Port Townsend-Keystone route, restoring the State Route 20 connection between the Olympic Peninsula and Whidbey Island.
A little bit of springlike weather and a three-day weekend certainly helped. Last weekend, downtown sidewalks were busier than at any time since the peak of the Christmas season. All the hotels in town were booked for Saturday night - helped along by the Discovery Bay Salmon Derby, which attracted about 800 participants.
"I had the best day since Christmas," Tom Stammer, owner of Folklife, 810 Water St., said of last Saturday and Sunday. He also noted that the foot ferry to Seattle had been great for business.
Yet business owners are still concerned. The national economy and the price of fuel are likely to have some effect on travel. Now, the PT-Keystone route will be served by one ferry during the summer when it normally has two ferries - about 50 cars transported per half-hour instead of at least 118. Will a longer wait time at the Keystone or PT terminals cause travelers to detour completely?
Helen Star, owner of the Wandering Angus Celtic goods store downtown, said one vehicle ferry is certainly better than none, but it's still a worry.
"It's really a disaster waiting to happen in terms of the accessibility to Port Townsend," Star said, noting that many of PT's visitors fall into the category of people "just passing through." Potential three-hour waits from having only one ferry might lead people to bypass the city altogether, she believes.
"I think this idea that the Steilacoom is going to be a be-all and end-all, a panacea, is ludicrous," said Star, who envisions the terminal parking area overflowing. "To think that the Steilacoom is going to be a solution is not thinking."
But Washington State Ferries has service problems on many routes, and according to current plans, the best-case scenario for the PT-Keystone route is the 50-car Steilacoom being alone here until new ferries can be built. WSF is ready to proceed with building one of the 50-car type of ferries, ready to sail in 2009. State officials are still considering the idea, based on the Steilacoom II's rough sea trials here and comments from the Port Townsend Ferry Advisory Committee, that a larger ferry is the better long-term solution. But starting with a new design could mean it would be two or three years before a ferry would be in service.
Steilacoom impact
The state Department of Transportation cancelled vehicle ferry service here last Nov. 20 out of fear the aging Steel Electric ferries had too much rust. Passenger-only service was instituted between PT and Keystone.
Downtown business owners said the passenger ferry Snohomish, which ran between here and Seattle's Pier 50 from Dec. 13 to Jan. 6, helped them survive what otherwise would have been a far slower-than-anticipated holiday season.
"It helped offset the losses," said Rick Unrue, owner of the Belmont restaurant and hotel on Water Street. "Business was still down, but without the passenger ferry it would have been a lot worse."
Unrue said one positive - which he hopes will carry over into the spring and summer - is the amount of regional publicity Port Townsend received. He said a lot of people from the Olympic and Kitsap peninsulas made an effort to come to Port Townsend to support local businesses.
"Now we're into our typically slow time of year and we can only hope out-of-towners will still make an effort to come to Port Townsend," Unrue said.
Marilyn Staples, owner of The Green Eyeshade on Water Street, said she's going to work with her manager to beef up the store's website in anticipation of a slow summer. Businesses that offer sales via websites can still serve regular customers who might choose not to drive here.
"The stopping of that ferry is going to affect us," Staples said. "I assume [business] will slow down quite a bit."
It has been noted that stores that can offer goods on a website, or that have kept email records of a customer base, have an advantage.
Mari Mullen, executive director of the Port Townsend Main Street program, encouraged downtown stores in December to track where their customers were coming from. The reports show a lot of people from the Seattle metropolitan area, along with shoppers from Kitsap and Clallam counties.
"The loss of the vehicle ferry did not stop any of those people from being able to get here," Mullen noted, although some from the Seattle area probably took advantage of the special passenger ferry run.
Passenger ferry hopes
Local business owners who say the passenger ferry from Port Townsend to Seattle saved their Christmas season want to see it continue - even if only on weekends, and even if crossing rates go up.
Steve Reinmuth, Washington State Ferries' acting secretary, said the Seattle-PT run isn't likely to become anything more than a one-time panacea unless the state can figure out a way to offset the ferry's costs.
"There just isn't any real viable way to continue this service," Reinmuth said. "The state of Washington lost $10,000 per day in fuel and other operating costs, even with our standard fare being charged."
Tim Caldwell, general manager of the Port Townsend Chamber of Commerce, said he will press the state for a weekend run from Port Townsend to Seattle during the summer season to help offset having only one vehicle ferry on duty.
"We think the best of all worlds is still very, very possible," Caldwell said. "We just need to take the interest from the temporary run to Seattle and the political leverage that comes from that route and press upon Olympia that there is a solution to those that is more than just the 50-car ferry to Keystone."
Jim Switz, one of the owners of Ichikawa Japanese Cuisine, said he would be happy to see the Seattle passenger ferry return on a weekend basis.
"December, January and February for a lot of our businesses is just survival time," he said. Switz said he thinks passengers who want to go from Port Townsend to Seattle - and vice versa - would be willing to pay a lot more than the $6.70 round-trip fare Washington State Ferries charged for the month the passenger ferry was in service.
"I think people would be willing to pay $15 to $20 for that round-trip," he said. "The trick is to make sure that it's there when people expect."
Based on ridership numbers from Dec. 13 to Dec. 28, WSF lost about $12,000 per day on the Seattle-PT run, meaning it would have had to charge $56 per round trip to break even. However, every ferry route is subsidized.
If business leaders or elected officials could come up with suggestions of how to minimize that per-day loss, however, Reinmuth said WSF might be interested.
"If we could guarantee that we had 600 people to fill that boat at $20, gosh, we'd be willing to listen," he said.
But even if a plan could be formulated, it would still require a vessel, and the Snohomish might be needed elsewhere. Other logistics, including training crews for a passenger-only ferry run, would also need to be addressed.
Planning ahead for 2009
The DOT already plans for a passenger ferry to run between Port Gamble and South Point while the Hood Canal Bridge is closed for an estimated six weeks in May and June 2009. Caldwell said he believes the example set by the PT-Seattle passenger ferry is an argument for why that plan should be reconsidered.
"We're trying to impress upon the DOT that a Seattle-Port Townsend connection, either an auto ferry or passenger ferry, is better," Caldwell said.
Beginning the service now, rather than in May 2009, would give people time to get used to it, he added.
When the Hood Canal Bridge's western half sank in 1979, the DOT operated a vehicle ferry from Edmonds to Port Townsend. The people it brought to this part of the Olympic Peninsula helped spark the burst of growth the town had during the 1980s, Caldwell believes.
"This is a great way to re-create the mood that we had in the early 1980s," he said. "You could almost say that was the igniter that started the tourism industry in Port Townsend."