Kitsap County considers a fast-ferry future

Bremerton could be a half-hour closer to Seattle if Kitsap County voters approve a fast-ferry plan next month.

Kitsap Transit proposes to restore passenger-only ferry service between Seattle and Bremerton, which the state ran between 1986 and 2003.

It also proposes new passenger ferries running to downtown Seattle from both Kingston and Southworth.

For people who work in Seattle and live in Kitsap County, or for those looking to move west across Puget Sound for cheaper real estate, the promise is the speed.

Kitsap Transit says travel time from Bremerton to Seattle, which now takes an hour on the state's car ferry, would take just 28 minutes.

Kingston and Southworth don't have any direct ferry service now, and fast ferries would take 33 minutes and 23 minutes, respectively.

"It would provide all of Kitsap County access to one of the hottest job markets in the country," said Jeremy Stitt of the group, Friends of the Fast Ferry.

Stitt is from Bremerton, and has seen many of his friends and family members move across the Sound to be closer to jobs.

"It would keep a lot of young people local in Kitsap County instead of moving out of the county," Stitt said.

Kitsap Transit would contract with King County's Marine Division, which runs water taxi service to West Seattle and Vashon Island, to operate the new boats.

Kitsap Transit describes the startup costs as $48.4 million, plus $11 million annually to operate the service.

To pay for it, Kitsap County sales taxes would go up .3%, which the agency estimates will cost the average adult $59 more per year.

"They're going to be eternally very expensive only to service very few people," said Poulsbo Mayor Becky Erickson, who opposes the plan.

Erickson said the money should be spent instead on fixing local traffic problems, or expanding bus service.

Kitsap Transit currently has no bus service on Sundays.

Bremerton resident Tony Diorio says the plan is "strictly for commuters."

"We've tried it before and it keeps failing," Diorio said.

In 2003, Washington State Ferries canceled passenger-only service because of budget cuts.

The state's passenger ferries had also thrown big wakes in the narrow Rich Passage, which tore up the shoreline.

Kitsap Transit spent a decade studying wakes and now concludes its specially-designed vessel, the Rich Passage 1, can both go fast and not leave a significant wake.

"In essence, we've solved the wake issue through Rich Passage," said Kitsap Transit Executive Director John Clauson.

In 2003 and 2007, voters rejected new taxes to pay for resuming passenger ferry service.

Clauson said that happened before the wake problem was solved, and Kitsap Transit says the current plan is far more robust than previous proposals.

For details on the fast-ferry proposal, visit www.kitsapferries.com.  %page_break%

Cox Media Group