Post by ferryfast admin on Jan 11, 2008 14:55:29 GMT -5
Southeast Alaska communities pan ferry plans
www.juneauempire.com/
JUNEAU, Alaska -- State ferry officials contend their proposed summer schedule provides even more service than last year.
Officials in some southeast Alaska communities have a different opinion and are questioning the priorities - and the competence - of Alaska Marine Highway System managers.
At the first of two days of hearings Thursday on proposed ferry schedules, community representative expressed alarm that the ferry summer schedule has not been posted.
State Rep. Peggy Wilson, R-Wrangell, said she was "completely dismayed and a little bit irritated," about the prospect of not having a schedule yet.
State Sen. Kim Elton, D-Juneau, also was unhappy the schedule was in flux well after tourists would like to book trips.
"In any private corporation with a budget as big as the ferry system, people would have been fired for this," he said.
Under the proposed schedule, the Malaspina would be taken off the run to Bellingham, Wash., leaving just the Columbia.
That makes the mainline Malaspina available to run daily in Lynn Canal, providing service on the popular run from Juneau to Skagway and Haines, two ports on the road system. The change also would free the fast ferry Fairweather to boost service to Sitka.
Officials in Skagway and Sitka praised the proposal but it found less favor elsewhere.
"Why would you cut Bellingham in half?" Wilson asked of the route to the Lower 48.
Several people from communities in southern Southeast, including ferry crew members, questioned cutting the Bellingham service, which usually runs at high occupancy.
Business and tourism people in Ketchikan, Wrangell and Petersburg said the ferry from Washington brought in valuable independent travelers, vital in their struggling communities.
"We've been told for many years that the Bellingham run is one of the biggest generators of revenue for the system," Elton said.
Sitka city administrator John Stein was happier with the proposed changes.
"We get five fast ferries and three mainline ferries," he said. "That's just a huge improvement."
He said he understood that cutting the second Bellingham run was done to save money and make ferries available elsewhere.
Another happy community officials was Pelican Mayor Patricia Phillips. "This schedule is responsive to our needs," she said. Pelican is expected to get biweekly service but wants weekly service.
Hoonah and Angoon representatives said many residents must travel to the Mount Edgecumbe Hospital in Sitka but that connections can be tricky. Often, they require hotel stays for people who cannot afford them.
Charles Van Kirk, the ferry system's operations manager, said the proposed schedule involves 369.9 total vessel weeks of service, up slightly from last year.
One major decrease was only running the open-water Kennecott two weeks on and two weeks off. That dismayed several crew members, many from Juneau, but Van Kirk said it would save money.
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Information from: Juneau Empire, www.juneauempire.com