House Transportation Committee considers Appleton ferry bills

If enacted, bills will save money for prepaid-pass users

January 24, 2008 

Olympia – A pair of cost-cutting ferry bills authored by Kitsap County State Rep. Sherry Appleton (D-Poulsbo) received a public hearing in the House Transportation Committee Wednesday afternoon at the state Capitol.

House Bills 2453 and 2455 are both designed to remedy problems that can affect ferry riders who purchase multi-trip passes.  HB 2453 would do away with "lock-out," which occurs when the owner of a pass attempts to pay for two vehicles on the same ferry.  "It’s not that unusual a situation,” Appleton says.  "If a family or group of friends want to put two cars on the ferry and use the same pass to pay both fares, their out of luck.  You can pay for the first car with the pass, but then you can’t use the pass again for 30 minutes.  Your other car is 'locked out' for a half hour.”

The other bill considered Wednesday, HB 2455, would prohibit the ferry system from placing expiration dates on prepaid multi-use ferry passes.  Today, if a pass-holder doesn’t use up all the rides before the pass expires, he or she forfeits the unused value.  “This is a simple matter of fairness,” Appleton said.  “Retail gift cards in Washington can’t carry expiration dates; if that’s a sensible law, and I think it is, we should hold the ferry system to the same standard.”

Citizens testifying during the public comments portion of the hearing were overwhelmingly supportive of both bills, while a representative of Washington State Ferries conveyed the agency’s opposition.  The transportation panel will make its recommendations to the full House when it meets in executive session to vote on these and other bills. 

HB 2453 and HB 2455 were two of the first bills Appleton filed for the 2008 session.  Three other ferry bills she is sponsoring will be heard later in the session.