Guess who’s back, back again! 2-boat Seattle/Bremerton ferry service and more!

By Bryn Hunter

Summer in Washington state is, in a word, perfect. Sunny skies, temperatures in the mid-70s and low 80s, and endless outdoor recreation opportunities.

And, for many, that means taking a ride on the iconic Washington State Ferries. The number of passengers doubles in the summer. It’s our Super Bowl.

This summer will be a notable one for our history books. We’re going to return to almost full domestic service three years earlier than originally planned.

We could not bring back more ferry service without our highly skilled crews. Our dedicated mariners are trained professionals who take safety seriously and are proud to serve their communities every day. 

Adding service

In early 2025, Gov. Bob Ferguson directed WSF to focus on service. Service restoration had been on hold until the new hybrid-electric ferries start arriving in 2029. With the governor’s direction, our Vessel Engineering department went to work. Thanks to their hard work, we’ll have the 18 vessels we need to add service beginning next month.

This summer we will bring back the following service:

• The Seattle/Bremerton route will return to its two-boat schedule starting Sunday, June 15.
• The Fauntleroy/Vashon/Southworth “Triangle” route will resume its pre-pandemic three-boat schedule beginning Monday, June 30.
• A second vessel will operate on the Port Townsend/Coupeville run every Friday through Monday from July 4 through the end of the route’s shoulder season on Oct. 13.

As we worked on these updated schedules, we wanted to make sure our Triangle route’s two-boat backup schedule would be more reliable. We heard from riders that you care more about predictable schedules than the number of sailings. That’s why we made the decision to move to a full three-boat weekend schedule this summer instead of a modified two-boat schedule with a third bonus boat.

We’re also going to operate a new summer schedule in the San Juan Islands. This comes after a robust, two-year public engagement process. We've launched new winter and spring seasonal sailings schedules on the route. Since then, we’ve seen a 20 percent improvement in on-time performance from the previous year. We’re optimistic that the new summer schedule will continue the trend.

The reality of adding service

We’ll need to crew three more boats daily for this added service. We've worked hard on our hiring and career development efforts. That means we’ve built a much more sustainable workforce pipeline to keep our crewing levels where we need them to be. But with more vessels in service, there will be fewer available relief crew members. That means an increased risk of short-term cancellations due to staffing shortages while we work to fill relief requests.

And with an aging fleet we know some vessels will be out for various reasons unexpectedly. They may be sidelined by a rogue crab pot or a mechanical breakdown as they work their nearly 24/7 service hours.

With these risks in mind, we’ve updated our Service Contingency Plan to show how we make service decisions with full transparency. Wonder why certain vessels can only operate on certain routes? Or why Sealth seems to travel throughout the entire ferry system? Check out the plan to read the full breakdown of what we do during service breakdowns.

We’re so excited to be able to offer more service for our over 19 million riders each year. Here’s to summer 2025, a good time to be excited about Washington State Ferries!