Pennco Transportation, which halted operation of its 30-vehicle North Olympic Peninsula door-to-door shuttle business May 20, is unlikely to hit the road again, at least under its existing ownership.
“There’s no hope,” Pennco President Kevin Harris said Thursday.
“I am sad that it had to come to this, but we have to.”
Harris, after making a surprise announcement to the Port Townsend Chamber of Commerce last month that he was suspending operations, had held out hope that private or public funding sources would come forward to save his state-licensed service, best known for transporting Clallam and Jefferson passengers to and from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
Funding has not happened, he said.
Pennco vehicles ranged from cars to full-size buses.
Letters of support
Harris said customers sent close to 100 letters of support to 24th District state lawmakers and the Department of Transportation.
“I really appreciate all the people that wrote in to legislators and DOT to express how important the service is,” Harris said.
The Port Townsend businessman said he has also pulled out of his partnership with Royal Tours, which transported people to Victoria, as well.
Harris said Royal Tours is likely to restart its operations under his former partners’ new name, which he declined to identify.
“We had a partnership to leverage each other,” Harris said.
“They’re doing the same service that they’ve always done. Just not doing it with us.”
20 lost their jobs
The permanent shutdown of Carlsborg-based Pennco left about 20 employees out of work.
Still operating on the Peninsula is fixed-base operation Olympic Bus Lines, based in Port Angeles. The company picks up riders at stops in Port Angeles, Sequim, Discovery Bay and at flag stops on the way to the Kingston ferry terminal.
Olympic takes passengers to stops in Seattle and Sea-Tac airport.