In this white-knuckle economic roller coaster ride we’re not yet calling a recession, everything is uncertain. The latest vocal casualty has probably been affected for quite some time, but it just recently purchased a bullhorn to spread its message. David Moseley, the assistant secretary for the transportation equalizer we call the Washington State Ferries, has taken his show on the road with a message no one wants to hear.

His message?

Yes, he knows the system is flawed, the boats are old and sometimes not on schedule, the lines to board ferries are sometimes excruciatingly long and the riding public is miffed because the fares are a tad high.

Here’s the deal: We know that thousands of Washingtonians depend on the ferries for transportation to and from work. Thousands more prefer to walk on for baseball games (back when we still attended them), football games and sometimes just to get taste of life in the Emerald City.

The ferries aren’t a perk in this state. They are a necessity. A straight-up necessity.

Yet the state Legislature continues to slash WSF’s budget, forcing WSF to either raise fares or deal in some other manner, like not replacing decrepit boats with newer (and safer) ones. In return, higher fares force regular folks to either stay home or slip behind the wheels of their cars, fill the gas tank and hit the road. With the cost of gas prices these days, that’s not a very cheap option, either.

In fact, in the last eight years, WSF has lost 11 percent of its ridership.

And now, WSF is in an uncomfortable position in which the organization as a whole must pull the proverbial rabbit out of a hat. It has to meet the public’s needs — it is a state agency, after all — while dealing with an ever-shrinking budget. The employees on the ferries are also getting a raw deal because they have to hear riders’ complaints all day and take the brunt of the public’s anger when things go wrong.

That leads right into another issue the ferry system must deal with: employee morale is quite low, Moseley told a packed house in Kingston on Monday night. Totally understandable.

Yes, they are state employees so those who ride the ferries pay their salaries. But that doesn’t mean it’s OK to scream and holler at the lady you pay at the booth because the ferry is running late.

The money side of the house has no quick fix. Like every other economic situation in this not-yet-labeled-a recession, it will take time.

The human side, however, does offer a solution.

Be nice to the people who work on the ferry, for cryin’ out loud. They’re likely no happier about whatever’s making you mad than you are. And they, too, are powerless to fix it.