The Washington State Ferry system has embarrassed itself to the point that something might actually be done about the inadequate funding that has plagued it since 1999 when Initiative 695 was overwhelmingly approved by voters who only wanted to pay $30 for their vehicles’ licenses tab every year.

Since the license fee provided 22 percent of the ferry system’s operating funds and its entire capital budget, according to the Municipal Research & Service Center of Washington, bad times were inevitable. A newspaper headline from 1999 says it all: “I-695 would sink ferries, officials say” (Kitsap Sun, Sept. 28, 1999).

Those bad times have arrived in force. The Keystone run on Whidbey Island lost its ancient Steel Electric boats due to safety concerns. The passenger-only ferry Snohomish that replaced it recently hit a dock in Bremerton and is out of commission. The leased car ferry, the Steilacoom II, that replaced the Snohomish on the Keystone run is too small to be a safe, long-term solution. And if it goes out of service for some reason, there may not be any service at Keystone. It appears the Washington State Ferry system is plum out of boats.

It is easy to treat the ferry system as a laughingstock and blame its administrators for poor planning. But it’s a fact that the approval of I-695 decimated its funding. It can be argued that the Legislature never made up the deficit as it should have, but it’s always a struggle to fund ferries. Relatively few legislative districts benefit from the ferries, and there are myriad worthy highway projects statewide competing for the same dollars.

This year, despite heroic efforts by ferry crews to keep the vessels safe and operating, one ferry after another is being pulled from service due to mechanical problems. The Legislature has to do more than fund new ferries, it has to provide the money needed to properly maintain and operate the fleet. Otherwise, what is now a bad situation can only turn disastrous.