Ferry to Sidney, B.C., a victim of budget cuts

The ferry between Anacortes and Sidney, B.C., will be eliminated under Gov. Christine Gregoire's new budget.

The ferry, which operates from early spring until the first week in January, carried 113,000 passengers last year — the lowest in the system, with just half a percent of total ferry ridership.

The state has been operating the route since 1951, when it took the system over from the Black Ball line.

Dropping the route will save $9.2 million, eliminating 35 jobs, Gregoire said in her budget. According to budget documents, service between Anacortes and Sidney will stop at the end of next summer.

David Moseley, head of the state ferry system, said eliminating the Sidney run "seemed to be the best way to achieve the cost savings we needed with the least impact on overall customers."

He said Sidney is an expensive route to run despite the higher ticket cost. Because it is so long, it uses a lot of fuel.

The ferry has long been a popular tourist route. Eileen Leddy, executive director of the Saanich Peninsula Chamber of Commerce, which includes Sidney, said cutting the route will have a huge impact on her community.

She hadn't heard that the governor planned to eliminate the Sidney run. "It's bad news for both communities," she said, referring to Sidney and Anacortes. "A lot of people come across on the ferry. This amounts to a lot of lost revenue, many thousands of dollars."

She predicts the governor's decision may not be a final one. "This is not a community that takes things lying down," she said. "People will be getting busy. The people have fought very hard to keep this service. It's important to Skagit County. It's important to the Saanich Peninsula."

Moseley said he isn't surprised. "I would expect that, that they would fight for it."

He said the governor's budget also calls for two other reductions in ferry service. The ferry on the Tahlequah-Point Defiance will be a smaller one. The 50-car Rhododendron will be replaced by the 34-car Hiyu. And the state will build just one ferry for the Port Townsend-Keystone route. It originally planned to build two, but bids came in so high that the state opted to just build one.

Susan Gilmore: 206-464-2054 or sgilmore@seattletimes.com