Washington State Ferries summer report card: How’d we do?

 By Bryn Hunter

As students head back to school and focus on report cards, we’re reflecting on our own. This summer was our busiest season since 2019, and Washington State Ferries was tested with its toughest challenge yet—restoring full 18-boat domestic service.

Last spring we announced added sailings on three routes: Seattle/Bremerton, Fauntleroy/Vashon/Southworth and Port Townsend/Coupeville. This was a big deal for our customers. Systemwide, it meant nearly 10% more service , or about 4,000 added sailings during the peak season. That meant a lot more options for our customers to sail with us.

But there were concerns that increased service might mean more canceled trips due to crewing availability, or more boats out of service for repairs and unplanned maintenance.

So, with all that in mind, how’d it go?

To be honest, pretty great.

From June 15 through Sept. 21, 2025, we measured the following:

Ridership: The number of drivers and vehicles combined with vehicle and walk-on passengers.

On-time performance: The percentage of sailings departing within 10 minutes of their scheduled departure time (our goal is at least 95%).

We added almost 50% more service on the Seattle/Bremerton route and saw nearly 150,000 more passengers use the route this summer. About 30,000 more passengers rode the Port Townsend/Coupeville route with added service as well. The Fauntleroy/Vashon/Southworth route was restored to a more reliable daily three-boat schedule two weeks into our summer season, causing on-time performance for the season to go from 73.6% last year to 85.7% this year.

Throughout the system we had almost 500,000 more passengers ride the ferries this summer compared to Summer 2024. That’s a 7.4% increase. Even with added service we also increased our overall on time performance from 71.6% in 2024 to 76.7% this summer.

We maintained all this service using our updated Service Contingency Plan published early this year.

We also tracked the two things we had concerns about. One was cancelled sailings due to crew shortages. The other was vessels that were taken out of service unexpectedly. We had 191 canceled sailings due to lack of crewing, down from 617 last summer. Canceled trips because of unexpected vessel outages totaled 134, compared to 65 in 2024.

We saw a clear drop in crew-related cancellations compared to summer 2024. That shows our hiring and training efforts paying off. Even with a worldwide mariner shortage and many pending retirements, we are building the workforce we need. We’re investing in the engine room, deck crew and terminal staff of the future and seeing the results of that today.

We also had 18 of our 21 ferries in service while building the next generation of ferries. For now, we have fewer ferries than we would like. But thanks to the hard work and creativity of our engine room employees and Eagle Harbor Maintenance Facility team, we can still offer this level of service while we wait for new ferries.

As we head into fall, we’re encouraging ferry riders to plan ahead using some of our travel tips. We just posted our updated best times to travel charts. And as always, you can check out our real-time map, and rider alerts, or follow us on X or Bluesky for updated service information pages. Not sure about how best to ride a route? Contact our customer service department and an agent can help you plan your trip.

Happy sailing! And thanks for choosing Washington State Ferries.