Bill would extend life of ferry coupons

Art Brockway isn’t impressed that Washington State Ferries wants to take money and not provide a service.

At least, that’s how he sees the system’s current practice of accepting money for coupon books but having them expire in 90 days.

“They take our money and don’t provide service and say ‘You can’t have your money back," ' Brockway says of the ferry system’s current practice of coupon books expiring after 90 days of being purchased.

It also was a family matter for the Federal Way man with ties to Vashon Island.

Brockway and his brothers visit Vashon Island regularly from around the Puget Sound to care for their elderly mother, Gretchen, and they rely on those coupon books to cut costs.

Brockway contacted his legislator, Sen. Tracey Eide, D-Federal Way, last year, and she initially had him meet with ferry officials to see if a solution could be found.

“They kind of gave us the company line,” Brockway said of talking to tariff officials first.

“It wasn’t resolved to the constituents’ satisfaction,” is how Eide’s spokesman put it.

So Eide promised Brockway to propose legislation requiring the ferry system to extend the life of coupon books to a year.

As promised, she introduced SB 5292. The bill currently is in the Senate Highways & Transportation Committee.

A spokesman for Eide’s office said the senator, majority whip from the 30th Legislative District, took on the issue after it remained unresolved with a meeting of ferry officials.

WSF spokeswoman Susan Harris-Huether was surprised by the bill when it was introduced, and said recently the system hasn’t analyzed how much money the ferry system stands to lose if such a bill were passed.

“That would cost a lot of money and at this point in time we have to watch all dimes,” she said.

The ferry system discounts the frequent-user books by 20 percent already, Harris-Huether said. Making the coupon books good for a year could cost the system money it can’t afford, she said.

Harris-Huether said she’d have to get someone in the system to analyze the impact and so far she has not had a chance to look up the information. In any event, Brockway disagrees with her that it will cost the ferry system “a lot of money.”

Brockway said that when he asked ferry officials how often the ferry system gives out refunds after 90 days, “it was so small that it was insignificant.”

In e-mail to ferry officials and legislators, Brockway says he and his brothers, Frank, Jack and Jim are trying to commute to Vashon regularly to care for their mother and that between them, they use motorcycle, auto-passenger, and passenger-only ferry tickets.

“Please help me understand how we can still care for an aging parent whose home is on a remote island ... I’m sure you have parents and perhaps you have yet to experience your new role as caregiver. These recent tariff increases do nothing to address our role as a society or perhaps your and my ability to care for our parents,” Frank Brockway wrote.

Eide, who represents Federal Way and other parts of King County, is a strong advocate for her constituents and feels that “government must be responsive to the people it serves, like Art,” her spokesman said.

“She wants to improve the culture of government so that it is more customer friendly,” the spokesman said.

Brockway says Eide does get the point he was trying to make that ferry officials, he says, are missing.

(Here’s the web site for the bill: http://www.leg.wa.gov/wsladm/billinfo/dspBillSummary.cfm?billnumber=5292)

— Allison Arthur is editor of the Vashon-Maury Island Beachcomber, a sister newspaper of The Islands' Weekly. She is a former Journal editor.

Comment on this story.

COMMENTING RULES: We encourage an open exchange of ideas in our online community, but we ask you to follow our guidelines for respecting community standards. In a nutshell, don't say anything you wouldn't want your mother to read.