The Fauntleroy Ferry Terminal probably ranks low as a terrorist target because other routes have bigger boats in more congested areas, said the director of Washington State Ferries.

Security specialists assume that if terrorists decided to blow up a ferryboat, they would be more likely to select a jumbo II-class ferry that can carry 2,500 passengers, said W. Michael Anderson, executive director of the state ferry system. They might attack a ferry from downtown bound for Bremerton, where the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard is located, said Anderson. He attended a meeting of the South Sound Ferry Advisory Committee last week at the Hall at Fauntleroy.

"We don't use airport (security) standards," Anderson said. "We are a mass transit agency."

The ferry system is working toward setting up an electronic fare-collection system to speed up lines at ticket booths. Passengers will have their own individual accounts to buy 10 ferry rides at a time. A plastic card with a bar code printed on it will be issued to passengers. Ticket takers will scan the card at the ticket booth and each trip will be deducted from the account. Once the 10 rides are used up, 10 more will be automatically charged to the account.

Tickets will be available to buy a week in advance, and will be printed at home or work, said Susan Harris, customer service manager for the ferry system.

The private contractor setting up the new electronic system designed the ticketing system at Disneyland, Harris said. They've never seen anything as complex as Washington State Ferries, which has about 2,000 variations in ticket prices.

The new system also brings about $1 million in credit card fees the state must pay, Anderson said.

Ferry traffic coming and going through Fauntleroy is greatly affected by population increases in Kitsap County on the western side of Puget Sound.

"The population growth is in Kitsap but the jobs will still be in Seattle," Anderson said.

The effects of quickly rising petroleum prices are rippling through the ferry system. High gas prices are putting more passengers on ferryboats. It's cheaper for them to ride the ferry across the Sound than to drive around.

Residents of Vashon Island and Southworth at the meeting asked for more passenger-only ferries. However, a passenger-only ferry that carries 150 to 200 passengers consumes about the same amount of fuel as a much larger car ferry that can carry 1,200 passengers. That makes passenger-only vessels more difficult to justify.

The Washington Legislature agreed to keep passenger-only ferry service in operation at least through June 2007. Then the state will sell the passenger-only ferries Snohomish and Chinook and use the proceeds to help Kitsap and other counties trying to establish passenger-only ferry service of their own.

Kitsap Transit is considering setting up passenger-only service to downtown Seattle from Southworth, Bremerton and Kingston, Anderson said.

One woman at the meeting suggested setting up a new ferry route from Southworth to Des Moines. That could get Kitsap and Vashon residents to Sea-Tac International Airport more easily, she said.

Another growing expense is insurance, Anderson said. The state ferry system pays three times more for insurance today than it did in 1999, he said.

Tim St. Clair can be reached at 932-0300 or tstclair@robinsonnews.com