By: Kurt Workman
If you’ve driven through Kingston on a summer weekend, you might know of the "Kingston Crawl." As the second busiest route in our system, moving nearly 4 million people a year, the line to board the Edmonds ferry can paralyze the heart of the village.
To tackle this gridlock, we’re launching the SR 104 Traffic Management System. This project uses smart technology to keep traffic moving, clear the downtown core, and address ferry line cutting.
 |
| Drivers approaching the ferry terminal should keep an eye out for this yellow advisory sign. If the attached lights are flashing, the ferry holding lane is active, and you must enter the ticketing lane. |
How it Works
When lights are flashing on the overhead signs at SR 104 and Barber Cutoff Road, the system is active:
- Follow the signal: Ferry-bound traffic will follow the traffic signal into a designated lane.
- Take a pass: Stop at the automated dispenser and take your pass. If you leave the line after taking a pass, you will need to re-enter the line and take a new pass.
- Wait for Green: Once the system detects space at the terminal, your light will turn green. Proceed directly to the tollbooths.
By holding cars further back, we are reducing idling in the Village Center, improving air quality, and ensuring that local businesses remain accessible even on the busiest holiday weekends.
Rollout Schedule
We’re rolling this out in two phases:
1. The Trial Run –
- When: Every Saturday and Sunday in May, as well as Memorial Day, May 25.
- Hours: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Note: Drivers may or may not receive paper tickets during this phase, follow the direction of workers on site.
 |
| A worker demonstrating how to press the button on the kiosk to receive your ferry lane ticket. |
2. Standard Operations
Beginning Monday, June 1, the system will operate from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. during these peak periods:
- Summer Season: Daily from Mother’s Day through Indigenous Peoples’ Day.
- Year-Round: Every Saturday and Sunday.
- Holidays: Daily during the weeks of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s.
 |
| SR 104 Traffic Management System in Kingston |
A Collaborative Effort
This project is the result of a strong, ongoing partnership between WSDOT, Washington State Ferries, Kitsap County, Kitsap Transit, and the Port of Kingston. We are committed to monitoring the system closely and continuing our work with local partners to improve the quality of life and travel for everyone in Kingston.
48 comments:
Not clear where the waiting area will be - up the hill more? A bit of a map would be helpful, thanks
Yes, please. May we have a map to the whole project and especially for the waiting area and how/where we queue up?
If you're disabled, how do you get the ticket
If you have a mobility issue that won't allow you to take a ticket, wait in line as if you took a ticket, then let the booth attendant know the reason why you couldn't take one.
Yes, please. A map showing where the ticket dispenser is relative to the waiting line, the legacy holding area, and the dock would be very helpful.
Are motorcycles still allowed to just drive up to the terminal, or do they also need to wait in line now?
Shel, motorcycles do not need a boarding pass and can proceed to the tollbooths.
Shel, thank you for asking this!! I came here to see if they had this info listed.
So if you have a round trip ticket do you go right to the toll booth?
Renee, no, a ticket is not the same as this boarding pass, which is required for all vehicles boarding a ferry at our Kingston terminal, whether they have a ticket or not.
So then you need a ticket and a boarding pass?
You don’t need a ticket as a passenger in a car leaving Kingston. Only the driver needs a ticket and a boarding pass between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. through Oct. 12.
How does this work for the Medical Preferential Load program. We predominantly travel this route for medical appointments.
Passengers with a doctor approved medical preference can go directly to the booth and don’t need a boarding pass.
Yes I do know that, I’m the driver
Great. Thank you!
Just to clarify, this is only from 8am - 8pm Saturdays and Sundays?
See clarification above #2. Sat/Sun in off season.
No, the boarding pass is required from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day during the summer season. It will switch to weekends and holidays for the winter sailing season starting on October 13, 2026.
Tickets are still purchased at the Booth after getting a loading ticket at the kiosk as you drive by it?
Yes
Yes, that is correct. This is only for the boarding pass when the system is activated, currently 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily. You still purchase your fare/ticket at the tollbooths or online.
We are buying tickets online for car, driver (+1 for passenger) at Kingston. Where do you buy the boarding pass?
The boarding pass is free. You take it from a kiosk located at the intersection of SR 104 and Lindvog Rd, as indicated on the map included in this blog post. Then wait for a green light to proceed to the booth, where you will give the booth attendant your boarding pass and your tickets.
We are visiting Olympic Park in Sept. Car,driver +1 passenger. From what I've read we need one boarding pass and purchase 1driver ticket and passenger is free?
Never crossed on a ferry before with a car so this is all new. I'm not sure about the time we will arrive to the ferry due to flight times, so if I purchased ticket/s how do I choose a time?
I used the WSF between Edmonds and Kingston yesterday. I purchased a roundtrip ticket in Edmonds. I haven't used the ferry system in a couple of years. No one mentioned a "boarding pass" at the Edmonds kiosk where I bought my RT ticket. When I returned to Kingston to go back to Edmonds, I assumed a RT ticket meant the same thing, right? No. There was WSF person by the corner, but he didn't ask me any questions, and/or point to the automated Boarding Pass I was supposed to use. Basically I've taken this ferry many times before and thought I knew what to do. NOPE. I got in line, just as a cashier was quitting for the day. He said my mix-up is a daily occurrence. May I suggest better signage or more robust education at the Kingston terminal?
Thanks for sharing your feedback. We’ll pass this along to the team working on the new system as they continue to adjust, improve and refine the process. Your suggestion about clearer signage and better information at the terminals is especially helpful.
Really horrid system. Tons of folks in line need to use the restroom right now but we are all trapped here - having had no idea we’d be stuck in the traffic your “new system” created for more than an hour & that we are not allowed to leave. Poor signage all around, awful policy, awful idea. Going to create crashes as cars go when the lane next to us has a green light - people are having passengers hop out of the car to check when the light next to us is green since you’ve blocked it from ferry line passengers. I’m sorry your town was designed badly but taking it out on ferry passengers isn’t the way to go. You will likely lose revenue and the respect you have from locals of the region if you don’t fix this.
The new system makes this ferry process in Kingston very inconvenient. At first, you can miss the boarding pass kiosk, then you get sent back through town, even though you still need to purchase your ticket at the booth. The queue has no access to information, restrooms, etc.
The ferry line was fine before just using the booth in town. Please remove the extra obstacle of needing the boarding pass booth. It’s a terrible customer experience.
I was in Kingston yesterday and experienced the kiosk / boarding pass system firsthand. During my 35 year career in aerospace, I often studied mfg processes, made more difficult, as a result of "bottlenecks" and sought their elimination. While in the kiosk line, followed by the ticket booth line, I couldn't help think that the new kiosk / boarding pass is a very unwanted and unnecessary second bottleneck. Wash State Ferry System leadership, please do not make the boarding pass / kiosk process permanent. It is a bad idea.
This!! We had no idea, no one mentioned anything in Edmonds when we bought a round trip fare ($76!!) and Apple Maps took us right to the village instead of to the boarding pass line. I love our ferries, but $76 for two people in a small car to go across and back is nuts and making us wait an extra hour for the boarding pass adds insult to our jury. Please improve signage/education
Google Maps/other navigation services need to be updated on this new rule in order to route traffic the correct way. When you put your destination in, it takes you the quickest way and routes you around the massive second bottleneck that has been created. This is probably contributing to at least some of the people who end up bypassing the ticket booth. No one will choose the route with the most traffic unless they know they have to. What a complete mess
Is this for weekdays? The ferry schedule shows the "boarding pass" footnote for weekdays, but if you click on the blue "boarding pass" links, it says "Every Saturday and Sunday in May, as well as Memorial Day, May 25". Confusing.
Beginning Monday, June 1, the system will operate from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. during these peak periods:
- Summer Season: Daily from Mother’s Day through Indigenous Peoples’ Day.
- Year-Round: Every Saturday and Sunday.
- Holidays: Daily during the weeks of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s.
This process is the exact opposite of smoother sailing. There is an assumption that you are approaching the ferry from one specific route, otherwise you miss the boarding pass kiosk. Several other vehicles in line also got sent all the way back to get one after reaching the ticket booth without the boarding pass, so not an isolated incident. I feel like this process was not well thought out, is not appropriately detailed via signage, and doesn't help traffic.
Sunday afternoon
The weight was honestly not that bad we got into the line about 315 took our pass. It should be better marked. I can see why people drive by it.
From taking the pass, paying for our ticket and getting in line, we are on the 4 o’clock boat!
No complaints
I have had no problems either..
I agree 100%, this only creates jobs or police when people crash the cars because of the chaos the judges the lawyers and all that comes with things that get wacky when it worked fine previously and now they make some new system that causes everybody to do things they wouldn't normally do plus a small town where you can hardly turn around in the first place and once you do you're just getting a ticket to being a line that you have to pay at the booth later anyway obviously the government gets lots more money when people get in wrecks from trying to see the traffic lights people getting out of their cars people not knowing what's going on people having to go to the bathroom so bad that they wet their pants and now we better invest in all those things that you clean car seats with those are the people that make the money in this and everyone else loses truly didn't we vote our politicians there needs to be some new lobbying new people that when coming into power they once lived on the side we live on which is called normal real life in a world where gas prices are $6 a gallon and nothing is what it was just to drive for fill your tank you're spending a big part of a paycheck. What's the point of our tax dollars being funded into these programs that not only upset everybody cause more problems it's breaking our legs so they can give us those crutches they have in a big Warehouse that are funded by welfare. Sure this program wasn't made by ice and if you're possibly Hispanic of any nature they don't let you on the boat they just put you on a different boat ICEberg ONE WAY TRIP TO A PLACE YOU CANNOT ESCAPE
Are you sure you were on this ferry ride maybe you were talking about one where people in the decision-making department are like the common working man and know how stupid this whole system is that only creates problems out of problems they think they're solving
It's very system is the stupidest reason of anything for it making everybody 10 times more mad than they would if one person cuts in line during that there wasn't Old Ferry it's swallowed a fly a spider a bird a cat a dog a horse and then that Ferry is dead of course let's create more problems from something that is a minor problem a couple people might see a sneaky person jump in line but that doesn't mean you have to torture all of us I think we would have rather have taken the once in a while sneaky person that jumps in the line in your small Kingston Town
Horrible advanced notice. I had to go back to get the boarding pass but first you got to break check. Everybody figuring out where you're going to turn around. Very unsafe. We're already at the crosswalk. By the time you get that far you should have a free pass, not gas in it through town again.
Do I have to exit my car to get the ticket?
You do not need to exit your vehicle to receive your pass at the automated dispenser.
The new systems may be hard/inconvenient/difficult for first time users but not hard to learn and easy peasy the next time. Yes better signage/warning/mappage would be helpful. First timers must be a huge majority of users to warrant this much blowback(Not!)
A detailed map showing the exact location of this Kiosk would be great, also some photos of what to expect in the way of signage and what the Kiosk actually looks like as you approach it in a vehicle would help. Is it on the left so the driver doesn't need to exit the vehicle, or do we need to walk up to it? Current Google Maps street view only show 2021 images of that area and the Kiosk was not there 5 years ago.
Also, I'd really like to know the reasoning behind this change. Was there really an issue with idling vehicles and exhaust fumes? If so, wouldn't a few "Turn off engine while waiting" signs have accomplished the same thing? I'm suspecting there are one or two vocal residents there who, while they rely on this ferry service themselves, don't want the "inconvenience" of the rest of us using the service.
Absolutely horribllllyyyyyy executed new system. Not enough signage way ahead of the ticket booth, needs tons of obvious signage for people to know this is a new system in place. I’m sure tons of time and money spent on this to be executed just so stupidly. Shame.
I read everything and still don't get it...
"follow the traffic signal into a designated lane.
Take a pass: Stop at the automated dispenser and take your pass."
So is everyone in a line in the designated lane to drive up to the dispenser and get a pass? Or is everyone parked in the lane and you have to get out of the car to walk down to the dispenser to get a pass? (Comment above says no). Where do you park after you get the pass? Where do you wait to see the green light?
Above: "the ferry holding lane is active, and you must enter the ticketing lane."
So you bypass holding lane and go down to the "ticketing lane" (ticket booth) instead of into the holding lane?
WSDOT comment policy
Post a Comment