One of the best things about using the Washington State Ferries System to cross the Puget Sound — beyond the awesome 360-degree views — is that bicyclists are first on and first off.
That's a nice little plum for a cyclist like myself who only makes the trip a few times a year for a recreational ride.
But it's an essential time-saver for the many cyclists who commute to and from work in downtown from the islands or the Olympic Peninsula.
I've taken the ferry by car, too, and it can take 10 minutes or more to unload the vehicles. Unless the ferry is loaded for the Chilly Hilly, like in this picture, is takes maybe a minute to let the bikes off and scoot on up the road.
Make bicycles last
Just today, Cascade Bicycle Club is reporting on their blog that a report by a team of nationwide experts suggests reversing the load/unload order so that bicyclists are the last ones on, and the last ones off, the ferry.
So much for reducing pollution and saving space on the ferries and roads by encouraging bicycle use.
The panel was convened by the state Department of Transportation to find efficiencies and cost-savings in ferry operation and issued a report, available here.
Efficiency
The panel looked at loading and unloading issues for efficiency (faster loading and unloading means the ferries don't have to run at top speed to meet the schedule), and assure success of the reservation system. One of the jaw-dropping findings is that:
“Currently, bicycle loading/unloading is a challenge since they are first off the vessel and can impede the unloading of cars. This creates a safety issue, which is more important than the delay, with the anxious drivers that have waited to unload now following the bikes down the road. ….”
Then the report recommends on page 73 to load and unload bicycles after vehicles:
“Safety is of the paramount importance with efficiency second. The Panel recommends that a trial project be undertaken to change the loading/unloading sequence with bicycles beingloaded last and unloaded last. This allows better separation of vehicles and bicycles and gives the Mate more control over the space allocated to bikes. Bikes are also slower than cars and can slow the disembarkation of those they are in front of. By holding back bikes, it also avoids the need for bicyclists to move through the car deck with their bikes in order to get to the front of the vessel. By off loading after the vehicles, bikes will not be sharing the road at the same time as the disembarking vehicles, allowing for a margin of safety.”
No data
There's no data in the report about bicyclists delaying car-loading times and no data about crashes involving bicyclist and vehicles at the unloading point. If safety were a problem, I'm sure the Cascade Bicycle Club would have been advocating about it long ago.
This really smacks of the same type of mentality that led to the bicycle ban on streets in the casino town of Black Hawk, Colorado: The streets are narrow. There must be a safety issue. Let's ban bicycles.
The Cascade Bicycle Club's advocacy director David Hiller writes at the blog:
“Had WSF actually provided any data whatsoever, e.g.: bicycle boardings, vehicle delay, crashes, etc., to support their assertions — we wouldn’t have anything to gripe about. Unfortunately, it sounds to us like unsubstantiated anecdotes were the drivers, pun intended, in the decision making process.”
Another problem that I see in the recommendation is that loading bicycles last has the “benefit” of giving the Mate “more control over the space allocated to bicycles.” Are they planning on making 6 to 10 bicycles wait for the next ferry just to squeeze on another car?
Hiller urges that we let Washington State Ferries know what we think about the plan.
He recommends we write to Ray Deardorf, WSF Planning Director (Deardorf@wsdot.wa.gov) and Jill Satran in the Governor's office (Jill.Satran@gov.wa.gov) to explain our objections.
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