Water taxi "waste" is a wet idea

IN a guest column, Michael Ennis of the Washington Policy Center claims the King County Ferry District wastes money on a government contract that should instead go to a more efficient private contractor ["County should rethink water-taxi takeover," June 9]. But a look at his numbers shows that his "water taxi waste" story is all wet.

He recommends the Ferry District return to using a private operator to run the passenger-only ferry service to West Seattle from downtown Seattle, based on a bogus claim that costs have tripled for the service. The figures he cites are simply wrong. In typical fashion, the Washington Policy Center uses partial figures on one side of their equation and leaves out a subsidy on the other. Here's the real story.

Ennis' numbers compare apples to oranges because his figure for the costs under the private operator do not include the entire cost of the service last year, or all costs for current West Seattle operations. True operating costs include costs for running the boat itself (about a third of the cost), and also include the two Metro shuttles that serve Seacrest Park, and a variety of other facility and service expenses. The touted million-dollar payment was the King County taxpayer subsidy to cover the difference between former private operator Argosy's full cost of operation (including return on investment) and all of the passenger fares that it kept to begin with.

So let's compare apples to apples: vessel, fuel, maintenance, and labor expenses for the private contractor in April 2009 compared to the Ferry District in April 2010 shows that current costs for the West Seattle route are about $21,000 more per month. But the District is saving $62,000 a month by operating its own service to Vashon Island, compared with the contracted service a year ago with the Washington State Ferries. King County serves West Seattle seven months a year ($21,000 for seven months works out to $147,000 in costs), and Vashon 12 months a year ($62,000 for 12 months is $744,000 in savings). For a fledgling system, a savings of over half a million a year in total should bring praise, not derision.

Ennis wants to draw his argument around the West Seattle Water Taxi route alone, but it's disingenuous to pick apart routes and not analyze the costs for the whole system.

In addition to the systemwide operational benefits, the two leased high-speed catamaran boats are much more fuel efficient and pollute far less than the boats they replaced. They can also interchange crews and boats as needed, further increasing operational efficiencies and flexibility.

The King County Ferry District has also already received several million dollars in grant money to build new state-of-the-art, safe, efficient, clean and comfortable ferries that the taxpayers of King County will own. This eliminates Ennis' concerns about future vessel construction costs for the Ferry District. Put simply, King County taxpayers won't foot the bill, which bring our costs down even more over time.

As summer arrives and the weather improves, we expect the West Seattle Water Taxi to continue its strong record of annual growth with a much better dock and faster, smoother crossings. The King County Ferry District is running two very successful routes that together provide a valuable transportation option for regional commuters. The King County Ferry District is on course to make our water taxis a smart, efficient addition to our regional transportation network.