To the editor:

Dear Gov. Gregoire: We need coordinated transit. One recent morning I rode the 6 a.m. ferry from Clinton to Mukilteo planning to catch the 6:26 a.m. Sounder train to Seattle.

As I was walking to the train station, I saw that the train was already there, and joked to one of the other passengers that the train should wait a minute for us, since we had waited all week for the train.

I was actually quite surprised when the train pulled out without us.

There were about six of us walking to the train from the ferry, and we didn’t want to run because of the snow and the slick parking lot.

To add insult to injury, the engineer hollered something as he drove past. I couldn’t make it out, but I think he said that there was another train right behind us.

Of course there was another train right behind, that would be the next scheduled train, and that left us standing in the cold snow for 30 minutes.

Apparently, because the ferry had only a few vehicles to unload, they slowed down to conserve fuel. I’m all for conserving fuel, and I applaud the state ferry system for that policy.

What I don’t understand is why the ferry system and the train system couldn’t communicate with each other and coordinate the schedule so the ferry riders don’t have to wait in the cold snow 30 extra minutes.

If only we had small portable communication devices that we could give to train engineers and ferry boat captains.

Governor, I expect you to demand that this never happens again. The solution to this problem is so simple, an eight-year-old child could fix it.

There is absolutely no excuse for the lack of coordination between our transit systems.

As governor of this great state, you are in a position to get cooperation from the various transit systems and insist that they all work together to provide coordinated Puget Sound transportation.

David S. Shupe

Clinton