Ferries adding ticket options
Published 9:00 pm Monday, January 22, 2007
Washington State Ferries is going paperless one ferry route at a time.
And the Mukilteo-Clinton run is next.
Starting today, frequent riders on the route are asked to trade in their ticket books for a bar-coded card.
Walk-on passengers will swipe their new card at a turnstile and drive-on traffic will swipe it at a ticket booth. About half the people who ride ferries are regular riders.
“In today’s world, people want choices,” said Susan Harris-Huether, a spokeswoman for the ferry system. “Now they have choices.”
She said riders could buy single tickets, ticket books or monthly passes at home and print them at home. They can also choose to buy a card that is automatically refilled when they run out of tickets.
The new Wave2Go cards will carry the same amount of rides as the discount frequent user books did, and, just like the old cards, the ticket will expire after 90 days, said Traci Brewer-Rogstad, director of marine operations for the ferry system.
Worried about your old ticket books?
Don’t.
“(Paper) tickets for the Mukilteo-Clinton route will be accepted … until their expiration date,” Brewer-Rogstad said.
The new cards will be available from kiosks at each terminal as well as online at www.wsdot.wa.gov/ferries/ wave2go.
The state is converting each ferry route to the new system one at a time.
Edmonds-Kingston is next, probably in about a month, Harris-Huether said.
The state has been working from the north – starting with the San Juan Islands first – to the south.
Reporter Lukas Velush: 425-339-3449 or lvelush@heraldnet.com.
Ferry cards
To buy the ferry cards online, go to www.wsdot.wa.gov/ferries/wave2go.
