Outside the Lines: Ferry Tales VIIII

Safety or Surveillance?

Skagit County Public Works has maintained all along that the two-way intercom installed between the passenger cabin and the pilot house is a safety device for crew use in an emergency and has not and can not be used to monitor passenger conversations. Questions to the County about this began in February and, at last, Mary Jo went to check for herself.

Finally.

Steve Cox, ferry manager, graciously demonstrated the intercom system on the Guemes Island Ferry Thursday 5/20/04. The demo indicated that sound is garbled most of the time because of engine noise. When the ferry’s engines are idling or off, and speaker is closer to the microphone, the sound is clear. Normally the intercom is turned off.

An email from Steve Cox, “As we discussed, a sign will be placed next to the speaker indicating that it is a talk back device and is used for emergency communications only.

As I mentioned, it is not used for anything but for the purpose of informing passengers of emergency situations and communicating, with crew members during emergencies.

I am still looking at whether we can install a light to indicate when the system is on and will let you know as soon as I can.”

That wasn’t so painful!

- MJ Andrak