Sidney closure will mean less ferry service here

Ferry service between Anacortes and the San Juans will be reduced from Feb. 1 until April 12. And service to Sidney. B.C. will be eliminated entirely during that two and one-half month period.

What’s triggering the change in the ferry schedule is the closure of the Sidney terminal, where a major reconstruction project will be taking place. The Town of Sidney, which owns the terminal, made the decision to rebuild it. The work will be paid entirely with Canadian funds, both local and federal.

Washington State Ferries (WSF) could have maintained current service levels by tying up in Friday Harbor for the four hours each day when the ferry makes the round trip to Sidney. But the ferry system’s labor contract with the Inlandboatmen’s Union of the Pacific would require paying the workers even while the boat sits at the dock.

The contract with the union does allow the ferry system to eliminate a 40-hour a week crew, however, according to Washington State Ferries Planning Director Ray Deardorf. Twenty-eight of those hours scheduled for elimination (four hours a day, seven days a week) will be applied to the daily round trip between Friday Harbor and Sidney. The other 12 hours will come from service reductions to the islands.

Washington State Ferries estimates that it would be losing $161,000 if it maintained current service levels to the San Juans while the Sidney dock is closed. WSF Chief Executive Officer Mike Thorne told the local Ferry Advisory Committee Nov. 21, “We can’t absorb the whole cost. I can’t subsidize their decision.”

Thorne’s decision to reduce service did not sit well with Ferry Advisory Committee Chairman Bob Distler, who felt that the islands were being hurt because of Sidney. “I feel it’s a mistake. It would be too light to say that I deeply regret it.” Distler also said that $161,000 was a small price to pay for all the inconveniences sure to be caused island ferry riders.

But Thorne held his ground, saying the issue was closed. “We’re going forward with this,” he said.

One service reduction will be to eliminate the 6:35 p.m. sailing from Anacortes to Lopez, Shaw and Orcas, and the returning 8:05 p.m. sailing back to Anacortes, Mondays through Thursdays, plus Saturdays. The last sailing from Orcas to Anacortes will leave at 6:20 p.m. on those days, although there will be a 7 p.m. boat from Orcas to Friday Harbor that will return to Anacortes.

One member of the audience said she feared the service reduction will wreak havoc with the Orcas sports program, given the fact that most home basketball games end around 7 p.m.

The 1:40 p.m. sailing from Friday Harbor to Anacortes will also be eliminated. Those wishing to leave San Juan Island in the early afternoon will have to wait until 3:20 p.m. under the revised schedule.

San Juan County Prosecuting Attorney Randy Gaylord urged the ferry system to provide school superintendents and the general public with complete schedule information in advance. Thorne promised to do this.

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