Ferry flops
Posted by Scott "The Piper" St. Clair - November 14, 2008
A bid to construct new 64-car Island Home ferries was opened yesterday at Washington State Ferry headquarters in Seattle with Todd Shipyards the only firm submitting one.
WSF orginally projected the cost of two new boats to be $84.5 million, which was apparently bumped up to $49 million per vessel. Yet Todd's bid for only one boat came in at $65.5 million, 34 percent higher than the most recent and jacked up state estimate.
This tracks with WSF, Department of Transportation, and the state's track record of seriously underestimating to the public the cost of building new ferries. Last spring, in an effort to secure bids to construct a 50-car vessel, the sole bid, again fromTodd, received by the state was approximately 40 percent higher than published estimates.
In addition, word is now filtering out of sources at WSF that it is being advised by consultants to postpone building the new 144-car ferries, called by some the future of the WSF fleet, for up to 20-years. Should the state accept the bid, it will mean only one new ferry will be built, and then for a run that serves but 3 percent of the state's total ferry traffic. And, should the consultants' recommendation be followed, that will mean that the new Island Home vessel will be the the only new boat added to WSF's fleet in nearly three decades.
This despite promises in legislation in 2001 and 2003 to build up to five new boats coupled wth at least one tax increase to fund them.
Given the the continually looming-larger budget shortfall, the question becomes whether the state will even have enough to fund construction of one boat, let alone all the others subject to promises over the years - promises that now seem as hollow as those who made them.
This is a complete failure of leadership at all levels of state government. Taxpayers and ferry patrons once again are forced to hold a ragtag empty bag of false promises without much hope of relief.
The Piper
Add Comment -
D Doyle said on Nov 14 2008 at 10:57am
So if Pt. Townsend doesn't get their new ferries - and it looks like at a minimum they will be substantially delayed - do you think they will continue to vote overwhelmingly Democrat year after year? Yes...this is a rhetorical question.
Sometimes you get what you asked for.
Taxpayer said on Nov 14 2008 at 11:46am
D Doyle: I totally agree. What did people expect when they put bureaucrats in charge of the ferries?
There's a reason the ferries were not profitable as a private entity. The state took on a losing cause that's shown itself to be true over these many years.
Elected officials need to have the courage to stand up and say enough is enough. The state needs to reform or GET OUT of the ferry business.
Perhaps the growing budget shortfall and hard economic times will force them to make the tough decision. PERHAPS...
Bob Sokol said on Nov 14 2008 at 5:09pm
The ferry bid is the result of a gigantic gift to the unions and Todd (the only bidder) from the legislature. Requiring the boats to be built in Washington didn't allow competitive bidding which probably would have resulted in the ferries to be built faster and cheaper in a "right to work" state.
Do the unions and Todd make contributions to Dem legislative candidates?
D Doyle said on Nov 18 2008 at 6:49pm
I see that Mr. Sokol enjoys rhetorical questions too.
