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!
13 comments:
So, the plan is to add more service but make the existing routes less reliable?!? Please don’t.
Thank you all so much. As someone who lives in Bremerton and commutes to work in Seattle this two boat service Bremerton/ Seattle means so much to me I appreciate everyone’s hard work
Trying to figure out where the Spokane is going this morning and why the captain chose 8:45 am as its departure time from Eagle Harbor Maintenance Facility, essentially delaying the departure of the 8:45 am ferry from Bainbridge Island. Does anyone over there think these things through?
You may have seen this by now, but the Spokane has returned to its normal route at Kingston, freeing up the Chelan to go to the San Juans. As for why the Spokane's captain chose to leave Eagle Harbor at the exact same time a regularly scheduled Bainbridge Island sailing was due to depart, I don't have an answer to that one. The regularly scheduled sailing should have been allowed to depart first in order to stay on schedule. Anyone who rides the Bainbridge Island route knows just how bad on time performance, especially on Fridays and weekends, can be, and that it doesn't take much for vessels to start running late. The Spokane could have, and should have, waited 5-10 extra minutes to leave for Kingston in order to avoid impacting regular service any more than it had to. Yes, having the Chelan fill in for Spokane at Kingston is far from ideal, and the less time vessels smaller than the Spokane have to work at Kingston, the better. However, in this case, it wouldn't have made a difference to Kingston service to have the Spokane wait for the regularly scheduled Bainbridge Island sailing to leave first.
I couldn't help but notice that your Quarter 1 ferry ridership stats for 2025 show the Bremerton route as having very low ridership. I crunched the numbers, and noted that the average number of vehicles per sailing was only about 56-58, and the average number of passengers per sailing was only a bit over 100. I am well aware that some sailings can and do fill to capacity, but these numbers are quite low all the same. I am well aware that ridership in the summer (Quarter 3) is significantly higher than ridership in the winter (Quarter 1). And, of course, I am also aware that the World Cup is coming to Seattle next year, and ridership will likely be especially high during that period. But with all of that being said, since you've been running the Walla-Walla on the Bremerton route more often than not since it was reduced to one boat, I can't help but think that you may already have enough capacity and service on the Bremerton route to keep up with current demand, as well as some degree of future demand. This may be especially true if state funding to continue the extra fast ferry sailings that Kitsap Transit has been running is not cut at the end of June. Since you only have so many vessels and so many crew members able and ready to work at any given time, it makes sense to use them where they are most needed, and Bremerton may not be it right now. The current service needs to be maintained. That is indisputable. But does the route really need two boats right now? I know another route that does: Port Townsend. While you are also restoring Port Townsend two boat service this summer, it will only be Friday through Monday. Tuesday through Thursday service will remain at just one boat. I appreciate that the added service has been prioritized for the busiest days of the week on that route. However, it hasn't escaped my notice over the past several summers that there is no such thing as a quiet travel day on that route when only boat is running. I have seen entire days, including midweek days, where all or nearly all reservation spots fill up well in advance, and standby travel becomes very limited. If the two boat service was restored to Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays at Port Townsend, it would be well utilized. It seems like it would make more sense to go ahead and restore Port Townsend to two boat service seven days a week this summer, and leave Bremerton as-is for the time being to better match service with demand. I'm not saying that Bremerton should never be restored to two boat service, and it certainly should be if the funding for the extra Kitsap Transit fast ferry sailings is cut. But if that funding is maintained, perhaps a change in plans is needed to ensure that service fully matches demand.
IDC9, thank you for your comments. You're right that on-time performance, especially on the Bainbridge route during peak periods, is a major concern. In serving communities throughout the region, it can become complicated to maintain service.
We're glad to have the Spokane back on its regular route at Kingston, which helps us restore stability systemwide. We understand how frustrating it can be when a boat move disrupts an already tight schedule. In this case, better coordination may have helped keep the Seattle/Bainbridge schedule.
Thank you for your patience as we work to improve our service.
IDC9, thank you for your comments and for taking the time to post.
While average ridership numbers for Bremerton may appear low, demand patterns are not evenly distributed throughout the day. Several sailings, particularly in the peak periods, continue to fill to capacity, and the route serves a community with limited alternative travel options. Also, with fewer sailings, the Bremerton community has changed its travel patterns. We expect more traffic as more sailings are offered.
These decisions are a combination of which boats are available when, the available crewing and where they can work. It is also a priority to keep three boats on the Fauntleroy/Vashon/Southworth route when possible, which is usually where a boat would be pulled to add service to another route, such as Port Townsend/Coupeville. Our updated Service Contingency Plan addresses why we prioritize routes and the complex challenges of serving different routes.
We're closely monitoring the Port Townsend/Coupeville route and agree that demand is high, even in the middle of the week. We will continue to evaluate whether additional midweek service can be supported. As you noted, the system’s limited vessel and crew availability requires tough choices, and we’re constantly balancing service across the system.
Another issue to consider is Keystone Harbor. Due to its smaller size, only our three Kwa-di Tabil class vessels can sail on the Port Townsend/Coupeville route. These boats are too slow to run on the Seattle/Bremerton run, so it’s not as straightforward as swapping a boat on that route to place it on Port Townsend/Coupeville. Moves like this have a cascading effect that make piecing this puzzle together more challenging.
Lastly, we’re following the outcome of Kitsap Transit’s fast ferry funding. Our planning remains flexible, and we’ll adjust as needed to make the most efficient use of the fleet.
Thank you again for your feedback.
WSDOT, thank you for your response, and for acknowledging the concerns of your riders. I am also glad to have the Spokane back at Kingston as we head into the busy summer travel season, even though the delays at Bainbridge got an early start last Friday in order to make it happen.
I seem to recall that there were plans back in the 2018-2019 timeframe to re-evaulate and potentially rewrite both the Bainbridge and Bremerton schedules once the Coleman Dock project wrapped up. Now that the Coleman Dock Project is winding down, are those plans still in place, and, if so, when should we expect to start seeing movement on that front?
WSDOT, thank you for taking the time to read and respond to my comments. This dialogue is most appreciated. I certainly welcome the restoration of full domestic service that is planned, because any service restoration is better than what riders have been dealing with since the pandemic. At the same time, I also appreciate your openess towards the idea of potentially adjusting your service restoration plans as things continue to evolve. There are certainly many factors at play here, and it will be interesting to see what happens in the weeks and months ahead.
What will the new bremerton schedule be after June 15th?
IDC9, we are one of the Bremerton families who changed our travel patterns after the sailings were halved. Thank goodness for the State funding of additional fast ferry sailings! The current nearly 2 1/2 hours between WSDOT sailings made using them untenable, especially when even those few were oftentimes canceled early on (and again just over a week ago.) Bravo for bringing back the second boat!
WSDOT, are there also plans afoot for changing the way car traffic is handled offloading at Coleman Dock?
A. Currently, if the Bainbridge ferry has arrived first then Bremerton traffic is all directed to the right, south on Alaskan Way. For those of us intending to go north or into downtown, that requires an additional 10 minutes to snake our way through city streets and traffic lights to get headed correctly. Adjusting the schedules slightly, or using the shore crews to direct merging traffic, would both solve that problem.
B. Is there a method to co-ordinate with the powers-that-be so the traffic lights for exiting vehicles don't wait for several cycles in order to clear Coleman dock?
Blaine, thank you for reading and responding to my comments. I lived in Port Orchard for many years leading up to COVID and the ferry crisis that came with it. I regularly rode the Bremerton ferry during those years, and am well aware of its importance to the community. I am sorry to hear that you and your family have been negatively impacted by WSF's reduced service to Bremerton. Let me be clear that I do indeed want to see full service restored on all routes, and that includes Bremerton. Bremerton has suffered more than its fair share from the lack of ferry service in recent years (the 2.5 hour gaps that currently exist between runs are not fun at all), and the time is coming to bring that to an end. I only question if now is the right time for Bremerton service to be restored given the vessel and crewing limitations that WSF is still dealing with at present, the fact that Bremerton does have the fast ferry as an alternative option, the fact that Bremerton riders have more options to get to and from Seattle than Port Townsend riders do getting to and from Whidbey Island, the reported ridership (particularly vehicle ridership...I am fully aware that Bremerton has historically been a heavy route for walk-ons, but even those numbers are down compared to what they once were) that the Bremerton and Port Townsend routes have been drawing in recent months. Any time is certainly better than no time at all, and I look forward to seeing how this summer plays out for WSF and everyone who depends on it.
WSDOT comment policy
Post a Comment