Gregoire signed a bill today giving the state ferry monopoly 3 more vehicle ferries. That the Democratic governor would sign away so much of our money to a state monopoly is not surprising, just disappointing. What is surprising is that when one looks at the roll call for the bill in the senate and house, the bill was approved by a majority of Republicans!!!
Why are Republicans afraid to say no? We are not talking about a small amount of money, 100 million is signifigant. We are not talking about some emotional item like feeding orphans, we are talking about subsidizing a state run monopoly.
As defenders of the free market, Republicans should not just be voting no on measures such as these, they should be leading the charge to dismantle state run monopolies. Granted I would like to see them dismantle many other state departments, but just attacking the state run monopolies for now would be a signifigant improvement. If GOP gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi came out with a plan to dismantle the state ferry system, sell off all the assetts to the highest bidder, and invite private enterprise to serve the people of Puget Sound as they once did back in the 40's before the state ran 'em aground, he would easily win the votes of the majority of Washington (Republicans and Democrats alike). Instead he is silent.
Posted by tpahl at February 14, 2008 05:53 PM | Email ThisI would doubt very much that a cross-sound private ferry system could be viable. As much as I support small government, there are some things that need to remain public. That includes our roads and bridges and highways. Ferries are part of our highways.
Would I be right in assuming that the author is not a ferry rider? If not, but (s)he lived in Renton and worked in Redmond, would (s)he be in favor of selling I-405 to a private company?
Posted by: Seabecker on February 14, 2008 09:39 PMThe fact that you think we need big boats instead of small boats and yet we end up buying small boats is a good example of how we can always expect the state to mismanage the system. A private company would not make such a mistake and if they did they would suffer the consequences. With the government monopoly we are forced to pay for all their poor decisions.
I do not use the ferry system often, but if I did use it I would be pushing evn harder for privatization. Privatization will benifit the users of ferries more than the typical state taxpayer. They will get both lower taxes, lower fares, and better more reliable service. Who would not want that?
Posted by: Lysander on February 15, 2008 05:38 AMFor most things, privatization is preferable. I am not certain that it can be done here though, without a $100/crossing fee.
The West Sound people and economy are dependent on a functioning, usable, reliable and affordable ferry system.
Posted by: Seabecker on February 15, 2008 08:32 AMI agree the entire west sound economy is dependant on a functioning ferry system and this makes it even more important that we get politicians willing to stand up and support privatizing the system so we are not dependant on an a failed government monopoly.
Posted by: Lysander on February 15, 2008 08:53 AMThey take away our parking but give them new ferries.
I guess if there is a union living wage attached to it trumps the carrot and stick social engineering.
I kind of liked the Idea of Joel Connelly living in freemont.
Posted by: Publicbulldog on February 15, 2008 10:35 AMI could be wrong, but I can't see how a for-profit system can work here. The costs are too great.
In Mass, for example, the ferries are run my the Steamship Authority. The round-trip car cost to Martha's Vineyard is $130, and to Nantucket is $370. Although these are islands, unlike Bremerton or bridged Bainbridge, they have a lot in common with our own San Juans (or even Vashon). Imagine Friday Harbor to Anacortes costing $400!
Note the Island Home vessel info. This is one of the boats WA is considering. After some investigation this may be a reasonable choice for PT-Keystone. But not the little one they have now.
Posted by: Seabecker on February 15, 2008 01:01 PMI guess we could do away with the ferries and build several large bridges. We would then trade a couple of hundred MILLION every few years for tens of BILLIONS to build and maintain them, even with tolls as high as current ferry fares.
Bridges, however, would completely destroy the West Sound forever.
Posted by: Seabecker on February 15, 2008 01:11 PMIt really does not matter if you can imagine a private run ferry system. It has existed and prospered for nearly 50 years in the past and only ended because of government intervention. If it could survive 60 years ago it could do so even easier now with so much more demand.
The prices you find for those islands in Massachussets are not a valid comparison. Having been to Marthas vineyard, I can tell you... There is very little demand to take cars to and from the island. The rich people on the island only do occasionally rather than daily as the many commuters here in the sound do. The tourists generally rent cars, pay for taxis, or even more popular, rent bicycles once they get their rather than take a ferry. In otherwords there is very little demand and thus they must charge much more to be profitable.
But lets suppose you are correct and the true market cost of ferry service is really 140 a day for all the ferry commuters. This just makes my case even stronger that we a tax payers should not be forced to subsidize peoples commutes at a rate of $100+ a day. If that is truly the case I am even more outraged that conservatives in office and running for office (Dino Rossi) are not demanding that such welfare be ended immediately!!!
Like I said Attach a living wage to it and it gets on the cart here in Washington.
No sonics just a living wage job.
Posted by: Publicbulldog on February 16, 2008 08:40 PMAnd I don't buy the "the ferries are part of our roads argument." If there was a real demand to travel across the sound to a sizable population, then bridges would be the only way to meet that demand, and those would be roads. As it is, there's a smallish demand, and that will continue as long as the state interferes with the market's determinations.
A private system would quickly determine the most valuable routes where there is real demand, and focus the right amount of resource, in that area. And thus those routes would be the cheapest. And the population density near the western ends of those routes would swell, creating greater demand, and keeping those ferry prices stable. Ultimately, that greater ferry demand would lead to a bridge as it did in the 1930s across the Narrows. Vashon Island should be like Mercer Island, but by killing the private ferry system, it was deprived by state monopoly, and never got a chance to show the demand that most likely would have lead to a set of bridges from West Seattle to Port Orchard.
But we'll never know where real demand and growth might occur, because we let the mismanagement of the state bumble along with a relatively fixed set of routes, an aging costly fleet, high union costs, and all of it heavily subsidized.
Posted by: Jeff B. on February 16, 2008 10:51 PMThe changes at the Narrows bridge are actually quite amazing since they ADDED ROAD CAPACITY. At first, the choke point simply migrated a bit, but with the recent SR16-I5 interchange improvements, things are much better.
MORE LANES MAKE A POSITIVE DIFFERENCE!
Posted by: Seabecker on February 18, 2008 09:55 AMThe regulations are a valid point of concern but as conservatives we should not follow bad regulations with more regulations which is what our politicians (and you) are doing by supporting the state monopoly.
Instead we should look to end both the state monopoly and the regulations that might cause problems for private businesses. Do not concede defeat without putting up a fight.
My belief however is that the GOP politicians never really wanted to up a fight to begin with because I do not think the current GOP leadership is really interested in supporting and fighting for free market capitalism.
Most of the state beleives in capitalism. It is really sad we do not have a political party that does too.
Posted by: Lysander on February 18, 2008 02:25 PM