Post by ferryfast admin on Jan 24, 2008 10:59:40 GMT -5
Last updated January 22, 2008 8:33 p.m. PT
Alaska ferry service from Bellingham WA being cut in half
Seattle Post Intelligencer
seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420ap_ak_xgr_marine_highway.html
JUNEAU, Alaska -- The financially struggling Alaska Marine Highway System will cut ferry service from Bellingham, Wash., through Alaska's Inside Passage by half - down to one trip per week.
The news, delivered Tuesday by Deputy Transportation Commissioner Dennis Hardy, did not sit well with a government oversight body.
House Transportation Committee members were critical of the agency's lack of detail and questioned the state's long-term commitment to a marine highway system it calls a statewide rather than a Southeast Alaska asset.
"I don't see you guys out there being proactive," said committee Chairman Kyle Johansen, R-Ketchikan, whose town is considered a gateway to the Southeast from Canadian waters.
"Where is the proactive effort by the department saying, 'Hey this is what we need to do it?'" he asked. "It's tough every year. It would be nice to fight with you rather than against you."
The committee called Hardy because it wanted to know why a ferry schedule had not yet been released with the summer travel season just five months away.
Hardy said the department is trying to contain costs while maintaining an aging fleet of 11 ships. Allocating time for increased maintenance prompted the drafting of a new schedule.
"Instead of preparing what I would call a cookie-cutter schedule similar to prior years, we basically had to create an entirely new base schedule," he said. "This is no easy task. It's extremely complex and time-consuming."
He called the schedule delay a one-time event, and said the schedule is the department's top priority. He promised it would be available on the system's Web site by Jan. 31.
No cost-saving estimates or breakdowns were presented at the hearing, but Hardy said for every $1 earned, the system needs another $2 from the state's treasury to help fund operations.
One way to help offset losses was to alter service from the Pacific Northwest to various ports in Southeast Alaska.
Those unable to book passage from Bellingham during peak summer months can still opt for a ferry from Prince Rupert, British Columbia, but that's 514 miles north of Bellingham.
That viability was challenged by several committee members, who say Bellingham's facilities are in better condition.
Additionally, a weak U.S. dollar and increased identification standards for travel into and out of Canada could make the Prince Rupert option less appealing.
Hardy said the agency's management based its Bellingham decision on undisclosed aggregate data made up of ridership and revenue, capacity percentages and cost savings.
Committee member Rep. Craig Johnson, R-Anchorage, said more details are needed to understand that decision.
"I just want to make sure we made a sound business decision rather than an emotional one," he said. "I'm never fond of decisions where a group of us got together and just made it."
The state's marine highway system has faced great scrutiny just one week into the legislative session for not producing the ferry schedule.
Lawmakers and travel industry executives say schedules should have been out months ago so potential travelers could book passage.
"Transportation systems don't work without a schedule," said Minority Leader Beth Kerttula, D-Juneau, who is not on the committee. "It's so basic. It's beyond belief.
"We are a marine environment in the Southeast. This is the way we get around. Without a schedule, everybody's lives are set on end, and it doesn't work," she said.
The delayed schedule and lack of details speak to a bigger problem of treating the marine highway system as an afterthought, committee members said.
They stress that the system isn't just a benefit to Alaska's Southeast, but a nexus between the Pacific Northwest and all of Alaska.
Rep. Woodie Salmon, D-Beaver, is from northern Alaska with no ties to the Southeast, but weighed in on the debate.
"It seems to me that something is not right here," he said. "Every year it's a problem. We have to fight to keep this program going.
"I don't want to say the administration wants to put it down, but why can't we just lift it up a little and keep it growing?"
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On the Net:
www.dot.state.ak.us/amhs/