I couldn’t find any of their routes on the website but maybe I breezed right by a hyperlink. Seems that some of them say “email us to register and you get the route”.
Totally fine and I understand why.
All other registration is free, but you have to use BikeReg.
Proposed fare hike on ferries for bikes with trailers. https://cascade.org/blog/2017/07/ferry-fare-proposal-could-hit-your-bike-trailer-where-it-hurts
Would increase fare from $9 to $16 for Bainbridge Island and to over $27 for Friday Harbor. Not cool. Public comment through the 26th to oppose.
I’m 100% on board with discouraging bike trailer use, especially in this context
Pulling a trailer sucks enough inherently, but on the ferries your clowncar setup massively multiplies your footprint and impact
On Memorial Day coming back from Lopez both the loading and unloading processes were a spectacular shitshow, all because of 60-80 beginners on bikes, mostly coming from Spencer Spit State Park. The majority were wearing big unwieldy backpacking packs or no gear at all (groups taking one car across instead of multiple), but there were also a dozen burley trailers fucking it up further. The ferry worker at the Lopez dock was having to yell at people over the PA pretty much continuously for 30 minutes.
There were a few cute families aping Madi, but the rest was just white yuppies being cheap and/or planning around ferry capacity constraints
I just read the proposed policy, it’s super legit: http://www.wstc.wa.gov/documents/2017_Bicycles.pdf
Wrote my own email to them to disagree with Cascade
Re-wrote the cascade form explaining my personal experience with trailers on a ferry and why it makes sense to charge extra for trailers, just like there’s a trailer surcharge for motor vehicles.
Just because somebody is new at bike camping or doesn’t have fancy equipment, doesn’t make them any less than you. The ferries are confusing as fuck if you’ve never done it before on a bike and have only ever done it in a car. The ferry workers also aren’t helpful. It further complicates things that every ferry is different (some you can ride on, some you walk on, and there’s no consistency from time to time even on the same ferry.)
The couple dozen people fucking up the Lopez ferry were universally decked out in REI gear
Just because you’re new at bike camping doesn’t mean you get to interfere with public transit, the ferry workers were a bit exasperated but patient
It’s only the docks with overhead pedestrian walkways that are always ride-on, everywhere else you can assume walk-on unless told otherwise by a worker when traffic is light
This law change is to clarify that if your bicycle is better parked like a motorcycle on the deck, you should consistently pay the motorcycle stowage rate and show up in their data that way, taking the heat off of the ticket sellers interpreting the rules.
I see Freds decked out in spandex and dentist bikes all the time fucking up ferry transit.
I don’t necessarily disagree that they should pay a bit extra, but paying the same as a motor vehicle trailer is excessive if you’re towing your kid around.
Did you read any of it?
It’s the motorcycle stowage fee to park their motorcycle-width vehicle, it’s usually about a third of the normal car price. The only pain is that the booth workers are going to have to flag them down to pay on return trips too.
There is no motor vehicle trailer fee, it’s just based on length and it skyrockets past 30 feet — “Under 40ft” pays 4x the standard 22ft vehicle, and adds another multiple for every 10ft increment after that
Wait, hold the fucking boat. Looking at this pricing structure its actually cheaper to drive a motorcycle than it is to take a regular bike on board:
bicycle: Passenger (8.20) + bicycle (1)= $9.20
motorcycle & driver: $7.90
They are talking about boosting it up to $16 which is equivalent to more than DOUBLE what motorcycle people are paying.
Bicycle + trailer would also end up being more expensive than “Vehicle Under 14’ (less than 168”) & Driver” = $14.30
edit: wait, forgot to take into account the round-trip vs one-way
Just chiming in to say that my experience riding a touring bike on ferries has never been particularly confusing, and I’ve always found WSF employees pleasant and helpful enough. Although, I’ve never ridden on there with a trailer
I’ve taken a trailer on and don’t recall it being especially hard or taking space that could have been used by another vehicle.
I don’t take ferries a lot period, but when I do they don’t seem to be overflowing with bikes + trailers. I can’t speak to the demographics.
Seems like a dick move to me though.
The ferries are weird. You have people who take them every day and you have total noobs/tourists.
Yeah I don’t know anything about riding a bike on a ferry.
not at all dude, you’re looking at a return trip where passengers travel for free
A summer bicycle round-trip cash fare is $9.20
For a motorcycle (or future bike+trailer) it’s $15.80
That microcar fare is $28.60, and for a car+trailer it’s at least $149.50
This. It’s $1 a ride more than a foot passenger.
My loaded motorcycle definitely takes up less space than a bicycle and trailer.
Hey superseattlites
Wief wants to visit vashon island Or somewhere beautiful and up in that neighborhood. Only hitch is we’re bringing our dog. Anybody have a recommendation of a hotel/rental? Is hiking a thing?
I thought about posting this in Jackass of the Day, but it’s probably better here. This was left on my car in Ballard the other day.
Salmon Bay Sand and Gravel, ladies and gentlemen. These are the same folks whose employees drive cement trucks and forklifts on Shilshole like maniacs, but stress “safety” as the reason for their proposed alternate route. Fuck em’.
Putting the trail anywhere else but shilshole is dumb IMO - I like how their other argument was that their truck drivers are too incompetent to drive near cyclists in a bike lane