BREMERTON, Wash. -- Kitsap Transit intends to resume high-speed passenger ferry service to Seattle.
A process that started about a year ago is nearly finished, with the Transit Board expected to approve a plan by February. Voters would need to approve a funding plan, including a sales tax increase, possibly by the end of 2016.
"We're about 90% complete on our business plan," said Kitsap Transit Executive Director John Clauson.
Washington State Ferries ran a high-speed ferry between Bremerton and Seattle until 2003 when it was cut by budget constraints. Kitsap Transit has tried twice to pay for its own service and each attempt failed.
This plan would cost $45 million in start-up costs, some paid for with federal grants, the rest with a sales tax increase. Ferries would run from Seattle to Bremerton, Kingston, and Southworth with the trip taking roughly a half-hour each. The current run from Seattle to Bremerton takes an hour.
"Thirty minute crossing to get into work is much better than even some of the places like Bellevue or Everett or Federal Way," said Clauson.
Key to the current plan is the design of the new ferries, Clauson said, which limit the wake through Rich Passage that had, in the past, caused damage to the shoreline.
If approved, the Kitsap Transit service would be contracted out to King County for operations. Tickets are expected to cost $10.
