During its evening runs, the Guemes Island ferry is only half as full as it is on days or weekends, and some county commissioners are taking a hard look at last year’s controversial decision to extend the island’s ferry service beyond 6 p.m.

Evening ferry runs have been in place for a year after commissioners decided they would study the service during a two-year trial period.

Skagit County staff on Tuesday presented a financial analysis of the first year of the trial, from July 2006 to June 2007. It showed the evening service was losing money at a rate of $42 per run.

Staff presented a revised study to commissioners two days later that included revenues not figured into the first analysis. When two state funds were added to the analysis — one that compensates county ferry systems for their shortfall, the other the ferry’s portion of the state fuel tax — the county figured each evening run lost about $5.

Members of the Guemes Island Ferry Committee, which had been working with the county to prepare the analysis, broke away from the county and declared the analysis to be flawed.

In the county’s analysis, the amount of money lost per run was the same, regardless of the time of day or how many people were on the boat.

“That was a poor way of doing it because we were trying to find out how many people were using (evening service), and was it cost effective,” ferry committee Chairman Glen Veal said.

County figures show that ridership is low in the evening. The average number of vehicles per round trip from July to June was 22. The average number on the five evening runs, after 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday, was 12. On the two final round trips, 9 p.m. and 10 p.m., six vehicles were on the ferry on average. Cars and trucks make up 80 percent of the ferry’s revenue.

Two of the three county commissioners said they may decide to abandon the evening service, at least in part. Commissioner Ken Dahlstedt pointed out that before evening service, when the last scheduled ferry left Anacortes at 6 p.m., the boat turned around and came back for one or two more pickups to make sure everyone was back on the island for the night.

“Having three runs to a period of time (in the evening) might make some sense,” Dahlstedt said. “Those last two runs typically don’t have too many cars, Monday through Thursday.”

The county already makes up for a shortfall in the ferry’s budget with money from the road fund. Commissioner Sharon Dillon said she would hesitate before committing funds in the long term to evening service if it costs the county even more money.

“My big bugaboo about extended hours — anything that costs the county (additional) money, I’m not in favor of,” Dillon said. “The county is going to have to subsidize part of that ferry, but not to a huge degree.”

Even though the trial period for evening service doesn’t end until June 2008, commissioners will decide soon whether to provide evening hours after that. Commissioner Don Munks, whose district includes Anacortes and Guemes Island, said the commissioners want to give people plenty of notice if the evening schedule is to be eliminated.

Not that he necessarily favors that option. Munks believes service until 10 p.m. on weekdays enables people to get back to the island from work or a day trip to Seattle without rushing, and that it’s been good for business in Anacortes.

“It has, I think, opened it up and made it more flexible for people who live on the island to be a part of Skagit County,” Munks said.

Some island residents have fought extended service, even challenging the county’s two-year trial in court. A Snohomish County judge ruled last month to deny an advocacy group’s request for an injunction to stop the evening runs.

The group, Friends of Guemes Island, argued that evening service would make commuting easier and would open the island up to residential growth. Some on the island say the island’s aquifer, its sole source of water, couldn’t handle heavier use.

Snohomish County Superior Court Judge James Allendoerfer ruled that the county can’t make evening hours permanent until it studies the environmental impact of the extended ferry service.

For Commissioner Dillon, this study is another reason why she might not support evening hours for the ferry.

“I’m not sure I’m willing to put that money up,” she said. “Those (studies) are expensive things, on top of a losing ferry system.”

Just how much money the evening runs are losing is a point of contention between the county and the ferry committee. Committee member Carl Cady developed an alternative analysis of the ferry’s finances this week, which isolates the evening runs and concludes that they are losing $27.93 per vehicle per round trip. Given the county’s figure of 11.6 vehicles per round trip in the evenings, that’s a loss of $324 a trip — dramatically higher than the $5-per-run loss reported by the county.

Cady said his analysis accounts for the lower ridership in the evenings. It also includes about $400,000 in expenses for the year that the county’s accounting leaves out.

Accountants who put together the county’s analysis said they couldn’t isolate the evening revenues because riders can purchase three-month and six-month passes with unlimited rides. There’s no way to track when those passes are being used, and records of ticket sales aren’t specific enough to indicate how many tickets are purchased in the evening.

Also, Cady included costs such as supplies, rental of a replacement boat during extended repairs, dock maintenance and overhead. County accountant Jim Martin said Cady’s items weren’t included in the county’s analysis because it only incorporated the expenses the ferry system is required to match with its fares. These costs include crew wages, fuel, insurance and some of the ferry manager’s time.

With a decision on the future of the evening runs coming soon, all three commissioners say the public, and the islanders in particular, will have opportunity for input.

“This is ultimately their island, and they need to be heard,” Dillon said.

“I’ve always said the ferry committee needs to be involved,” Munks said. “That said, they need to understand they are advisory, and if we’re going to take a look at the figures, I want it done honestly and not pulling figures to meet an agenda.”

• Ralph Schwartz can be reached at 360-416-2138 or .


INFO AT A GLANCE:

On average, evening runs on the Guemes Island ferry have half the number of passengers compared to daytime and weekend runs. The final two runs have even fewer riders on average, about a quarter the number on a typical daytime or weekend run. Shown below are vehicles per round trip, for days and weekends, for the evening runs and for the late runs. Vehicles make up 80 percent of the ferry’s revenue. The figures were calculated from monthly ferry information available on the Skagit County Web site. http://www.skagitcounty.net.


Ferry riders, July 2006-June 2007

Vehicles per round trip, days/weekends - 24

Vehicles per round trip, evening (6:30-10 p.m.) - 12

Vehicles per round trip, last two runs (9 and 10 p.m.) - 6