Seattle Post-Intelligencer
SEATTLE Fares on the state's cross-Puget Sound ferries
will go up 5 percent again, starting the first Sunday in May,
as part of a continuing effort to recover a higher percentage
of operating costs.
The change will come on the same day as peak-season surcharges
for cars and drivers are added to the fares, ferry officials
said yesterday. Fares also were increased 5 percent a year
ago.
Round-trip passenger fares will increase from $5.40 to $5.70
year-round on Central Puget Sound routes such as those from
Seattle to Bremerton, Seattle to Bainbridge Island and Edmonds
to Kingston.
During the popular peak time, the tourist season between
the first Sunday in May to the second Sunday in October, car/driver
fares on the Seattle and Edmonds routes will increase from
$12 to $12.50. They'll increase from $9.50 to $10 during non-peak
times.
Round-trip passenger fares on the Fauntleroy-Vashon route
will increase from $3.50 to $3.70 and remain at that level
year-round.
Round-trip passenger fares on the Fauntleroy-Southworth route
will increase from $4.20 to $4.40 year-round.
Fauntleroy-Southworth car/driver fares will increase from
$9.50 to $9.75 in the peak season and from $7.50 to $7.75
in the off-peak.
Passenger fares on the Mukilteo-Clinton route will increase
from $3.20 to $3.40, while peak-time car/driver fares will
increase from $7.25 to $7.50. Off-peak car/driver fares will
increase from $5.75 to $6.
The increases are part of the ferry system's plan to eventually
generate 80 percent of its operating costs from fares and
other revenue. The system currently raises 73 percent of its
costs from fares and other revenue, compared with about 60
percent in the late 1990s, said spokeswoman Susan Harris-Huether.
The system also is trying to generate enough revenue to help
replace its four 1927-vintage diesel-electric ferries. Five
Western Washington shipyards have expressed interest in building
the new ferries, which would carry 1,202 passengers and crew
and 130 cars, compared with 616 passengers and 75 cars for
each of the diesel-electric vessels. The older boats would
be retired.
The latest new ferries built for the system were the Jumbo
Mark II-class vessels, the Tacoma, Wenatchee and Puyallup.
They were delivered between 1997 and 1999.