Electronic ticketing is right around the corner, and if you want to know what’s up and have questions to ask Ferry Management and Public Works about this impending new system – now is your chance!
This coming Monday, May 20th at the Guemes Community Hall at 5pm Skagit County Public Works (PW) will be in the house to tell us all about it.
Please come to the meeting, hear directly from PW, and bring your questions about the system to (hopefully) be answered. Meeting details and Zoom link here.
Here is the meeting agenda:
- Opening Remarks and Introductions – Grace Kane, Public Works Director
- Guemes Island Ferry Project Update – Tom Weller, Public Works Engineering Division Manager and Assistant County Engineer
- Guemes Island Ferry Anchor Application Demonstration – Rachel Rowe, Ferry Division Manager, and Jess Boffey, Project Manager
- Q&A Session – Public Works Staff
- Closing Remarks – Commissioner Ron Wesen
To make the most of this opportunity, here are a few suggestions from the GIFC:
1. Send your questions about the new system to PW at:
ferrycomments@co.skagit.wa.us & CC guemesferry@gmail.com
GIFC will review and synthesize the questions you send in to create a public record of your questions and pose them to PW at the meeting if they do not come up from attendees
2. Come to the meeting & Bring your questions
Keep your questions specific about the ticketing system. There will be limited time for Q&A at this meeting, so we think it is important to stay focused on the current impending issue. Even if you submit your questions in advance, your presence is essential to show the County that the Guemes Community is invested in making sure this project works.
For a little background, here are things we know about the new ticketing system:
Start Date: June 6th
Buying tickets: You will need to buy tickets through the app, on the website, or at the ticket office at the ferry terminal. If you do not have a smartphone and the ticketing app, you will need to print your tickets.
Buying tickets in line: When you are in line for the ferry, if you do not have a ticket in hand (or on your app), you will need to physically go into the ferry office to purchase a ticket. The purser will be unable to sell you a ticket in line at your car.
Types of tickets you can buy: All the same types of tickets you can buy now will still be available, including punchcards.
Punchcards: The app will track the number of tickets (punches) you have left. The purser will not be able to see how many you have left. They will automatically expire on the expiration date and no longer be valid.
Comments from beta testers: There are still a lot of bugs and issues to be worked out at this point.
We hope that you can attend the meeting, or if you can’t, please send your questions and comments to ferrycomments@co.skagit.wa.us Your voice is important and needs to be heard!
In Community,
Becca Fong
On behalf of the Guemes Island Ferry Committee