No Cutting in Line for Puget Sound Ferries (but check out who did...)

MUKILTEO, Wash., April 6 — Riding a ferry across Puget Sound amid evergreen islands and majestic mountain peaks might seem a pretty smooth way to commute. But first you have to get on the ferry.

Sometimes the line is long. Sometimes people get edgy. Sometimes they forget to be their best selves.

“There are two kinds of line cutters,” said Brad Collins, the supervisor of the car ferry terminal here, about 20 miles north of Seattle, “the person who knows what they are doing and the person who doesn’t know what they are doing.”

...snip...

Last weekend, on his way to a memorial service for former United States Representative Jack Metcalf, who lived on Whidbey Island and died last month, Representative Doc Hastings cut in line at the Mukilteo terminal. In an interview, an aide to Mr. Hastings noted that his district was in eastern Washington, where ferries are not a widespread means of travel, and he said the cut was “an innocent mistake.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/11/us/11nice.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Hey, ferry cheaters: Your days may be numbered

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A bill that passed the state Senate, and is expected to pass the House, would make cutting in a ferry line a traffic infraction. Violators could face a $101 fine. At the very least, they'd have to go to the end of the line.

State Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen, D-Camano Island, has been trying to get the bill passed since 1997. The Washington State Patrol supports the measure, as does the state ferry system and a lot of ticked-off commuters.

"This is road rage beyond road rage. I had one person tell me how he jumped up and down on somebody's hood because they crowded in front of him," Haugen said. "You sit in line for an hour or two and somebody crowds in front of you, and they get on and you don't. There are some rather strong feelings."