WA Ferries should show it's got game and spruce up before FIFA deluge
On June 1, Washington State Ferries, the largest such system in the United States, will mark 75 years of public ownership. A few fêtes, including raising the ferries' flag atop the Space Needle, will commemorate the occasion. And yes, mini-ferries that double as nacho troughs will continue floating out of Mariners games this season.
Might I suggest a refresh of another maritime tradition? It's time to retire the aging audio safety briefing at the start of each sailing, and in its place, hook up a brand-new, regionally renowned voice giving the guidance, confidently sailing us into the future.
This old chestnut is past its prime.
You can hear it in your head: May we have your attention please. The state's longtime pithy briefing about when to don life jackets is blasted through the crackly intercoms of each vessel. Other than an errant car alarm, this might be the only time you hear a message on what is, for some, an unforgettable boat ride.
A separate announcement outlining the system's anti-harassment policy was mashed onto the end of the first during the COVID pandemic, the result of some particularly boorish customers who would ideally be forced to walk the plank, if this were a different era. While that additional message remains pertinent, its pandemic adjacency evokes something that can only be described as the opposite of nostalgia.
The system needs a new voice to mark 75 years for three reasons. The first is historic. The Puget Sound Navigation Company's Alexander Peabody sold out to the state in 1951, after it rejected his exorbitant post-World War II fare hikes. Fine, state of Washington, you try to operate these hulking boats, he said. And the state did it! All the way to this day.
Second, the new recorded message would greet travelers on what could be a record-breaking summer season, including, we are told, the hosting of a globally popular soccer tournament.
Finally, Gov. Bob Ferguson and the state Legislature have, following years of neglect, pumped new life into this iconic system. Investments in its workforce and crew advancement are driving down canceled sailings; the first of three direly needed new vessels should arrive in 2030. So spruce up the safety message to meet this moment.
Other transit systems have already caught this wave. Ride the 1 and 2 lines of Sound Transit's light rail system and you hear a cheery Megan Rapinoe reminding all passengers to scootch in; the World Cup means we're gonna rub elbows.
Speaking of Rapinoe, plenty of Seattle's most celebrated residents surely stand ready to assist. I'll leave it to you, dear reader, to imagine the possibilities. Don't care who the state selects, just make it fresh.
Oh and by the way, your car alarm is going off.
- Josh Farley
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