Another round of ferry fares hikes will be on the table when the state transportation commission meets next week in a two-day session, in Olympia.

On Day One, Tuesday, May 19, the Washington State Transportation Commission will conclude its meeting with discussion of a potential 2.5 percent ferry fare increase in 2015 and in 2016, as well as state ferry system policies and operational strategies. The two-year staggered price hike is built into the proposed two-year transportation budgets of both houses of the state legislature.

The commission is also expected to consider whether or how to encourage more people to walk on or ride bicycles onto the ferries.

Washington State Ferries, which operates the largest ferry fleet in the nation, carries roughly three million fewer riders today (23.1 million in 2014) than it did in 2001 (26.1 million).

Between 2001 and 2011, ferry fares increased by 80 percent across the board, beginning with a 20 percent spike in ’01. The year before, Ferries lost roughly 20 percent of its operating revenue and 75 percent of its capital funding after voters approved Initiative 695 by a large margin (56 percent) in 1999, which abolished one of the state ferry system’s primary funding sources, the motor vehicle excise tax.

In addition to a potential hike in fares, the commission will also be briefed on an assortment of transportation topics, including development of a state public transportation plan and the recently completed ferry riders’ opinion survey, based on ferry riders evaluation of the ferry system’s performance and service.

The commission will also consider whether to designate a portion of US 101 as the North Olympic Peninsula Medal of Honor Memorial Highway, in recognition of four Medal of Honor recipients from that area.

For a complete list of the two-day commission agenda, click here.