They also suggest: Ramp up the ferries’ social media presence and other public engagement efforts, use tolling technology and expand mobile transactions to improve ticketing and loading processes.

The 2018 Washington State Legislature commissioned two faculty members with the to conduct an independent study of ticketing and loading procedures at the popular ferry dock and suggest ways to improve terminal operations.

Evans School professor is principal investigator for the study, working with associate professor and four graduate student research assistants. The team sent its completed study to the Washington State Department of Transportation on Dec. 14, outlining short- and longer-term options for improving service at the terminal.

The , on what is called the Triangle Route, is where travelers and commuters take ferries from West Seattle to both Vashon Island and the small Kitsap Peninsula town of . The Fauntleroy dock, one of the state’s oldest and smallest in operation, is too small to hold enough vehicles to fill even the smallest of three ferries that currently serve the route, so additional cars wait for ferries in a holding lane that runs north up Fauntleroy Way.

The terminal has been the cause of substantial commuter frustrations in recent years, with some sailings grappling with a trade-off between being on time and filling boats.

While the dock is scheduled for a rebuild starting in 2025, ferry riders and community members see the status quo as “undesirable and unsustainable” in the short run, the team writes.

In conducting their research, the Evans School team visited the docks and interviewed ferry staff and community members, and attended meetings of the Washington State Ferries’ on updating service at the terminal.

“Combining systematic analysis of available empirical data with field observations and interviews, (this) report examines the challenges and possibilities for improving ticketing and loading at Fauntleroy in the short run, while suggesting implications for long-run improvements as well,” they write. But they caution, “Easy fixes … are elusive.”

Their report recommends improvements in technology, training, public engagement and data collection and analysis, while stressing that “successful and sustainable” change will require both additional resources and planning.

In the near term: The team recommends that the Legislature provide Washington State Ferries sufficient funding to “experiment with combinations of additional staff, upgrades to Wi-Fi connectivity and mobile devices to enable ticket sales and validation in the holding lane.”

Other recommendations include creating a smartphone app commuters could use to get real-time estimates of wait times for ferries. Ferry users currently can sign up for text or email notifications of estimated wait times, but, the research team notes, such estimates are often inaccurate.

“A location-driven smartphone could estimate wait times before a rider leaves her house, while she is en route to a ferry terminal, and once she is in the holding lane,” the researchers write. The app could be built to integrate with Google Maps and other travel-planning apps, “enabling riders to plan their entire trips using a single app.”

To support implementing these suggestions, the team also recommends sufficient state funding for:

• Improvements in staff training, management and retention at Fauntleroy — including the hiring of several new staff before the next busy summer ferry season, and training staff in conflict de-escalation techniques
• Expansion of data collection and analysis to measure the impact of ticketing and loading changes to the dock and improve the quality of information that Washington State Ferries reports to the public.

Longer-term recommendations: The team suggests that the Legislature provide funding sufficient to rebuild the Fauntleroy dock, in its planned upgrade, with the capacity to incorporate WSDOT’s “Good to Go!” tolling technology to collect fares. They recommend that the support this change by factoring “Good to Go!” fare-collection capabilities into an upcoming fare-restructuring effort.

In their conclusion, the Evans School researchers state: “Despite differences of perspective and opinions among stakeholders, everyone we spoke with is dedicated to improving operations at Fauntleroy, as well as the Triangle Route more generally.

“We hope that these overall shared aims, in combination with our findings and recommendations, can help unify the Triangle Route’s stakeholders to support Washington State Ferries staff and the Legislature in developing sustainable solutions to the challenges of ticketing and loading at Fauntleroy.”The research was funded through the state supplemental transportation budget.

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For more information, contact Cullen at alison@uw.edu or Page at sbp@uw.edu.

Evans School professor and associate professor will lead the study, which begins this week and is expected to conclude in December. The work is being funded by $75,000 from the state supplemental transportation budget. Cullen is principal investigator for the project.

Assisting Cullen and Page will be Zane Gustafson, Zachary Kearl and Emily Scott, students in the Evans School’s .

The popular Fauntleroy Dock is where travelers and commuters take ferries on along a triangular route from Seattle to and the small town of . The dock has been the cause of commuter frustrations in recent years, with some ferries departing on time but not entirely full, while cars wait in line.

“We’ve been asked to analyze and compare alternative approaches to improve ticketing and loading procedures at the Fauntleroy ferry dock in West Seattle, given the constraints of the current dock and the characteristics of its location,” Cullen and Page said in an email.

For the study, the team plans to conduct site visits to the docks and interview Washington State Ferries staff members as well as community members. They will also sit in on meetings of the Washington State Ferries’ on improving service in “the triangle.”

The researchers will analyze data for a range of conditions, the faculty members say, and where feasible “identify alternative approaches to customer demand, waiting times, ticketing methods, fare structures and collection, loading and safety provisions, community engagement, customer satisfaction, and routes.”

When the study is complete, the team will offer its recommendations to Washington State Ferries.

“If our analysis uncovers barriers posed by policies,” they add, “we will consider possibilities for improvement as possible within our scope.”

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For more information, contact Cullen at 206-616-1654 or alison@uw.edu.

Also participating will be members of the , a joint venture between the Evans School and Washington State University that acts as a neutral resource for collaborative problem-solving in the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest.

The conference, being held at the Westin Hotel and other area locations, is expected to draw as many as 1,300 participants from 50 nations. The overall theme will be “New Traditions in Public Administration: Reflecting on Challenges, Harnessing Opportunities.”

Its many events will feature scores of presentations and panel discussions, many featuring Evans School faculty and staff.

• will lead discussions on the future role of public service in American universities and on the .
• will lead a talk on public-private partnerships.
• Tamara Schaps, director of , will lead a discussion of integrating millennials into the public sector workforce.
• , associate professor, will discuss expectations in collaborative governance, and , professor, will talk on the choices and trade-offs public managers must make to solve complex political problems.

The Ruckelshaus Center will also be well represented. , center director, will present on fostering collaborative solutions to public policy challenges in the Pacific Northwest, and , associate director, will present on using collaboration to solve complex political problems.

More than 150 other sessions and workshops, many by visiting scholars, will take up matters as diverse as strategies for reducing unemployment of minority and low-income workers, public policy challenges in disaster management, 21^st century infrastructure challenges, and the role of nonprofits in fostering civil society.

Yet more sessions will focus on administrative and management practices, budgeting and accountability, diversity in public service, employment perceptions and practices, public records law, reducing Medicaid costs for states — and, perhaps unsurprisingly, even “emotional labor and burnout for civil servants.”

Formed in 1939, the American Society for Public Administration works to advance the “art, science, teaching and practice of public and nonprofit administration,” its website states, keeping in mind four core values: accountability and performance, professionalism, ethics and social equity.

Visit for a full schedule of conference events.

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To learn more about Evans School participation in the conference, contact J. Paul Blake, director of media and external relations, at 206-543-3958 or jpblake@uw.edu; for more on Ruckelshaus Center participants, contact Kern at 206-428-3021 or m.kern@wsu.edu.