Peak Season Begins - A Lost PR Opportunity?

[SS Shasta]

At the risk of being negative, I notice a current news release by the WSF management announcing the official beginning of the "peak season on 1 May. The announcement begins by noting that the last sailing from Port Townsend to Keystone on 22 April was "sold out." ;D

Apparently the first month and a half of this "peak season" involves increased fare surcharges and parking fees, but almost no increases in service. The only change during May will come about mid-month when a 2nd vessel will be added to the Keystone run, but that will continue to be limited to 8 hours of service.

If the beginnings of the "peak service" season included reasonable increases in service along with fare increases, the public might view WSF management in more positive ways. Keeping vessels such as MV Evergreen State and MV Nisqually tied up at Eagle Harbor during these busy spring week ends does not create good PR in my opinion.

[Barnacle]

Once again, I must repeat for you, the Nisqually is still not certified to operate.

The Evergreen State is currently WSF's only available back-up boat.

The.

Only.

One.

All the others are in for repairs.

If it gets assigned to "extra service" somewhere (which, because of her speed, her primary purpose will be to slow down the other boats on the run), what happens when extra service that is announced must be cancelled because the "extra service" boat has to be pulled off the run and sent elsewhere?

[SS San Mateo]

What's going to happen if the Nisqually isn't ready for service by the time 2 boat service starts on the Pt. Townsend-Keystone route? The Klickitat will still be in drydock at that time and the Evergreen State will be filling in for the Sealth (which heads over to Vashon to replace the Tillikum), so unless the Hiyu fills in for the Quinault on the inter-island route, there isn't going to be any 2'nd boat come mid-may if the Nisqually isn't available.

[old_wsf_fan]

Might they delay taking any other vessels out of service until they get the Sealth back in service? Seems like they could put the Evergreen State up in the Islands to do the Inter-island run and put the Illahee on the Pt. Townsend run as the number 2 boat behind the Quinault. I think the Klickitat should only be out for 2-3 weeks during the 2-boat schedule as she went in for maintence a week earlier than posted on the maintenence schedule.

Of course things would be alot easier if the Nisqually was available, but that doesn't look like it is going to happen.

[Barnacle]

I don't think there's a whole lot left hanging over the Nisqually, frankly. I'm pretty sure that the Nisqually will be ready come two-boat service time at Keystone. Barring unforseen circumstances, so will the Sealth, to head for Vashon to sit in for the Klahowya and Tillikum, which shouldn't be out simultaneously in any case, leaving the Evergreen State to sit in for the interisland Illahee.

This really isn't as dramatic as this thread is making it sound, guys.

[old_wsf_fan]

Is there more to do to the Illahee that she would need to be removed from service? My guess would be the stability tests I have read about on the WSF website, but couldn't that have been done during last months' absence?

[SS San Mateo]

oldwsffan said:

Is there more to do to the Illahee that she would need to be removed from service? My guess would be the stability tests I have read about on the WSF website, but couldn't that have been done during last months' absence?

She is scheduled for drydocking, but I have no idea when that's supposed to occur (the schedule mentioned in the IFB was never updated). The contract was awarded to Todd on 3/12 and I'm preety sure she wasn't in drydock last month (if she was, I couldn't see her).

[SS Shasta]

barnacle said:

Once again, I must repeat for you, the Nisqually is still not certified to operate.

The Evergreen State is currently WSF's only available back-up boat.

The.

Only.

One.

All the others are in for repairs.

If it gets assigned to "extra service" somewhere (which, because of her speed, her primary purpose will be to slow down the other boats on the run), what happens when extra service that is announced must be cancelled because the "extra service" boat has to be pulled off the run and sent elsewhere?

A couple of technical questions: How long does it take to place a vessel (MV Evergreen, etc.) into service when she has been sitting idle at Eagle Harbor for several weeks?

If, for example, she was working a busy week end providing extra service at Edmonds/Kingston and a emergency developed on another route, could she likely reach that route faster than if she was sitting cold at Eagle Harbor?

The reason I ask this is that during the busy months during the 1960's, etc. WSF usually did not let the "Extras" sit cold at Eagle Harbor.

Do you remember when 3 or 4 vessels would work Edmonds/Kingston, Winslow, or Columbia Beach on week ends with one or two of them providing non scheduled extra service? The slow vessels (MV Chetzemoka, etc.) would load vehicles and foot passengers at the heavy traffic end of the route and then return from the light traffic end with foot passengers only. From what I remember, that worked quite well.

[EGfleet]

shasta said:

barnacle said:

Once again, I must repeat for you, the Nisqually is still not certified to operate.

The Evergreen State is currently WSF's only available back-up boat.

The.

Only.

One.

All the others are in for repairs.

If it gets assigned to "extra service" somewhere (which, because of her speed, her primary purpose will be to slow down the other boats on the run), what happens when extra service that is announced must be cancelled because the "extra service" boat has to be pulled off the run and sent elsewhere?

A couple of technical questions: How long does it take to place a vessel (MV Evergreen, etc.) into service when she has been sitting idle at Eagle Harbor for several weeks?

If, for example, she was working a busy week end providing extra service at Edmonds/Kingston and a emergency developed on another route, could she likely reach that route faster than if she was sitting cold at Eagle Harbor?

The reason I ask this is that during the busy months during the 1960's, etc. WSF usually did not let the "Extras" sit cold at Eagle Harbor.

Do you remember when 3 or 4 vessels would work Edmonds/Kingston, Winslow, or Columbia Beach on week ends with one or two of them providing non scheduled extra service? The slow vessels (MV Chetzemoka, etc.) would load vehicles and foot passengers at the heavy traffic end of the route and then return from the light traffic end with foot passengers only. From what I remember, that worked quite well.

That was back when there was funding for "extra service." There is no funding for that now provided in WSF's operating budget. The days of extra service vessels are long over.

[Barnacle]

shasta said:

A couple of technical questions: How long does it take to place a vessel (MV Evergreen, etc.) into service when she has been sitting idle at Eagle Harbor for several weeks?

If, for example, she was working a busy week end providing extra service at Edmonds/Kingston and a emergency developed on another route, could she likely reach that route faster than if she was sitting cold at Eagle Harbor?

The reason I ask this is that during the busy months during the 1960's, etc. WSF usually did not let the "Extras" sit cold at Eagle Harbor.

Do you remember when 3 or 4 vessels would work Edmonds/Kingston, Winslow, or Columbia Beach on week ends with one or two of them providing non scheduled extra service? The slow vessels (MV Chetzemoka, etc.) would load vehicles and foot passengers at the heavy traffic end of the route and then return from the light traffic end with foot passengers only. From what I remember, that worked quite well.

If it's only been sitting for a couple of weeks, the boat should be able to get underway in less than 12 hours. But the individual case is always weighed before dispatching the relief vessel (I say 'the' because there's only one available ;D) as to how quickly it can get there vs. how quickly the regular boat can get back into service. If it's a one-day thing, they may just ride it out short one boat (unless it's Winslow, Bremerton, Kingston, or Columbia Beach we're talking about here).

And, to be brutally frank, the 1960s ended 37 years ago at WSF, just like everywhere else. The practice of parking extra boats around the sound greatly shrank by 1973 with the arrival of the Supers and Jumbos, and the retirements of a whole armada of smaller vessels--the San Mateo, Skansonia, Willapa, Enetai, Kalakala, the Wooden Electrics, Leschi... the only place the extra boat idea held out until 1980 was at Columbia Beach.

The scattering of extra boats about the fleet doesn't work today for the same reason every other idea in this thread has sputtered and died--there's only one extra boat available; where would you put it?

Also, the only places in the fleet where an extra boat could be stored are at Vashon, Kingston, and Anacortes, where there are still tie-up slips available. They've been gone everywhere else for a long time.

The extra boats were used out of necessity. Our shcedules are written in such a way these days to provide optimum service with two much faster vessels; a third vessel would only slow down the schedule and negate much of the effect of the capacity boost.