Washington Policy Center, an independent nonprofit think tank in Seattle, believes Washington State Ferries should not harm riders by canceling passenger service, while at the same time maintaining the law that bars anyone else from providing it.
   The Revised Code of Washington, in section 47.60.120, says that no private ferry can operate “over Puget Sound or any of its tributary or connecting waters” within ten miles of a state ferry route, an area that for practical purposes covers all of Puget Sound.
   Washington State Ferries expresses the hope that Kitsap and King counties continue passenger ferry service. It is extremely unlikely cash-strapped counties will be able to step in. The state should simply repeal the ban on private service. That would open the way for new ideas, new investment and more efficient operations.
   “Our research shows that private companies are willing and able to carry paying passengers across Puget Sound,” said Washington Policy Center research director Paul Guppy. “One innovative company is already moving ahead with passenger service on Lake Washington.”
   “If Washington Ferries can’t do the job, it should let someone else do it. It makes perfect sense to let the private sector offer passenger ferry service,” said the Policy Center’s president Dann Mead Smith.

(Editor’s Note: Washington Policy Center is an independent, nonprofit, 501(c)(3) research and education organization. Visit them on the web at www.washingtonpolicy.org.)