Research Paper

The WSF System

Vashon residents and ferry travelers know that the ferries can sometimes face a few challenges; they could be late, understaffed, overloaded, cancelled, or infrequent, and they are definitely expensive. People living and constantly traveling onto the island have not seen many of the effects of system improvements. My goal with this paper is to state these issues and then provide some alternatives and solutions, and to inform readers of how the system works and operates, and talk about plans for the near future that islanders will definitely want to hear about. People think that the ferries are just a late, pricey, infrequent mess of a way to get off the island, but I want to show how it is not just that, but a whole world of complicated parts from funding to contracts to parts, all somehow coming together to make a system that will see many more improvements very soon.

Issues with the Ferries

Late Ferries

The first thing to know is what the issues actually are with the ferries. One issue is how the ferries are late. Many routes can have significantly late sailings. In August of last year, out of 2,217 sailings, only 47.5% of sailings were less than minutes late for the Anacortes + San Juan Island routes! That means less than half of the sailings are within 10 minutes of leaving on time, totaling over a thousand late in just one month for one route. As for Vashon - Fauntleroy, from November 2024 to November 2025, 82.5% of sailings were on time, an increase from the earlier 2020s, but still 1 in 5 sailings. In the whole year of 2017, there was a 90% on time rate per sailing, meaning 1/10 sailings were late, much better than now. The system functioned well in the late 2010s, then dipped during Covid, now starting to come back toward full service. Covid contributed very much towards the decline of system functionality in many ways. The crew started retiring and many of the rest didn’t want to go in to work for fear of getting Covid. Along with the retiring boats and aging terminals, the system was thrown off. For example, Anacortes - SJs were only 62.6% on time with their sailings in September of 2022-23, meaning that less than two in three were on time for a state-run service. Since then, the system has improved. In September of 2024-25, the system was 76% on time, a major improvement from a few years before. Today, the numbers stay around 75%. For Vashon - Fauntleroy, the numbers tend to be from 85% to 90%. Every day, there are around 500 departures and 2500 miles traveled by WSF vessels, and delays change these numbers and decrease travellers, which also decreases the funding that the system gets.

Understaffed System

Another issue with the ferries is how they are understaffed. Many crew members have become eligible to retire in the last few years. Many did not want to work during Covid, shortening the staff even more. 74% of the Masters and Staff Masters are eligible to retire, as well as 29% of the Chief Mates, 17% of the Second Mate, 17% of the Licensed Engineers, and 53% of the Chief Engineers. Training takes the right people and a good amount of time, and in times like Covid, training was much more limited due to the amount of people applying and the fear of getting sick. The biggest problem was that if even one crew member was out, the whole sailing would be cancelled. During Covid, those who showed up still and took the risk of getting sick may have just been sitting around in some cases because not enough other crewmembers showed up.

High Prices to Travel

The ferries are also expensive. Prices rise every few months by around 3%, and will again on May 1st. The price is more than $20 on a discount (Multi-Ride Standard Vehicle)! In addition, there is now a 3% credit card fee and there is no tap to pay, so pay cash or pay an extra fee. This all adds up to be very expensive. Costs for fares for standard vehicles in 2023 versus 2024 were a difference of $8, obviously increased, and continue to climb in price at a rapid pace. In October 2025, prices rose 3%, then the credit card fee came in March, and prices will rise another 3% on the Forum Presentation Day, May 1. The three percent is not from a starting level, it accumulates. From 2000 to 2021, fares generated by the system went from 95.5 to 157 million! That is an over 60% increase! Prices are rising, but residents have not seen many effects or benefits from it. Hopefully soon, the construction projects and new vessels will benefit Vashon and other routes. 

Cancellations and Infrequent Sailings

Another big issue is cancellations and infrequency. Aside from crew issues, one of the biggest (literally) reasons, though, is the aging fleet. The average boat age is 39 years. When the goal for lifespan is 60 years 12 are approaching the end of their lifespan fast, and The Tillikum is already past! The Issaquah Class (124-car ferries, the size that mainly serves our north end routes) have been needed for use so much that they cannot get the repair time they need, and they will retire 10 years earlier than planned. Many times, an elevator is out or there is some small or moderate issue with a vessel, so a ferry gets removed from service. Then, they take a boat from a route with less traffic, cancel or delay it, and send the vessel up to fill in for the out-of-service one. In 2023 alone, over 4000 sailings were cancelled, compared to only 1,711 in 2019. The sailings can be a bit inconsistent at times. For example, if you want to leave the island to Fauntleroy from Monday through Friday, between 1:40 and 4:45, there is only ONE sailing with a gap between the one before and after of an hour and twenty minutes! On the side of cancellations, if all of the cancelled sailings from 2023 happened in one sequence, there would be eight days straight of no service throughout the entire system. This doesn’t even include the late sailings which are even more common. To put the effects of these delays and cancellations even more into perspective, if all of the vehicles driving onto the Washington State Ferries ever lined up their cars, they would circle around the entire Earth… twice!

Causes and Past Events

What Caused all these Problems?

What causes these problems? First off, in 1999, Voter Initiative 695 was approved, revoking the motor vehicle excise tax (MVET) which provided billions to the WSF system; From this point on, the system spiraled into trouble. The ferry budgets were cut short and new vessels that were needed became very expensive. Some vessels have funding but many coming in the mid 2030s don’t currently have a source of funding. Inflation affected everything making prices for repairs and hiring and basically the entire system functioning went up. This forced WSF to increase prices by so much all the time which cost commuters and island residents much more than before. Covid happened just as training new crew members to fill in for the retiring was needed, as well as when the fleet needed to begin construction on many new vessels. Covid happened at probably the worst possible time for the ferry system. Every so often, a ferry gets into an accident. This costs millions of dollars and keeps one boat off the water more than needed.

Past Vessel Events and Retired Vessels

There are a lot of retirements coming soon, thirteen to be exact from the current fleet of vessels. People may wonder what happens and will happen to all of the old vessels we have now. The Hyak was a Super Class ferry built in 1966. It was aging fast because it did not get its mid-life refurbishment. Its repair funding ended mid 2019, and the vessel was retired. The Hyak’s funding was diverted to making new vessels. This would be all good, but the new vessels are not arriving on time, so the system is only at 18 vessels instead of the 21 that the system is designed for. Since the retirement of the Hyak, the Elwha, another old ferry, has been retired and was recently sold. As a side note, some may wonder what happens to a retired ferry like this. The Elwha, along with the Klahowya, were supposed to be scrapped after an Ecuadorian company had contract issues, but was then sold to a local company to be turned into office space. The system doesn’t like sending vessels to scrap, so boats like the Hyak are sitting in Eagle Harbor waiting to be sold, essentially just sitting with nothing but the frame inside. One vessel from the Mosquito Fleet (a fleet of small, shallow water ferries that dotted everywhere around the sound) that many may know was the Virginia V. A much smaller ferry built in 1922 sailed for 10 years before suffering significant damage and being turned into a museum still operating near Kirkland. Back to the newer ferries, the Evergreen state, a ferry the size and class of the Tillikum, was “retired’ in 2014. A crowd joined the vessel on its final sailing, in which the system decided to put it immediately back into service due to a substantial fleet shortage (which has pushed into now until other new vessels arrive). In 2015, it was officially retired and sold in 2017. After plans to move all over that all failed, it is now moored at an old GP Paper mill. The ferries go all over, but the system does its best to get retired vessels to a place to be repurposed, basically anywhere but a scrapyard or somewhere that it just sits decaying. Since 1980, there have been 14 major mishaps, the most recent being the Cathlamet crashing into a dolphin (the pilings helping guide the ferry into landing with all of the stickers on them) at the Fauntleroy Dock. This cost the system millions of dollars. All WSF divisions are alerted about events like this by the WSF operations team available 24/7. The Cathlamet was only in the way of the dock for a few hours and service returned with one vessel less, which the damage was estimated to be around 7.7 million. It turned out to be 10.6 million dollars to the vessel itself and 300k to the post that guides the ferry into landing called the dolphin.

Priority Vehicles

Emergency vehicles like ambulances get to hold the ferry and get priority. A few select vehicles get priority loading: motorcycles, pre-registered carpools and vanpools, metro vehicles, police, and fire department vehicles. Sometimes there are even passenger-only sailings with only these vehicles allowed on. Motorcycles, vanpools, and metro, however, cannot hold a sailing for them. Ambulances need to and can hold ferries, as there is no suitable emergency treatment on island now. Ambulances will hold boats, which may cause delays. The commuter sailings are in the cold, early mornings. This could cause a dead battery ending in significant and accumulated delays throughout the rest of the day. Other systems that are on a tight schedule may be delayed if ferries are the only or main way off the land, but considering that the WSF is the second biggest ferry system in the world, the delay has significant effects, also considering the population density so nearby or where the system is located in Seattle and Tacoma.

Consequences and Inconveniences

Consequences of these Problems

What are the consequences of these problems? Many people become late for work or can’t get home, commuting students may not make it across the route, and especially with islands like Vashon and the San Juans, moving resources into the islands is always through the system. Food, wood, parts, nearly all goes in through a boat. If there is an emergency, the ferry system is vital to get people the help they need quickly. Some tourists actually avoid visiting islands like Vashon or the San Juans for just the fear of missing their flight. Commuters and students traveling every day across the ferries, even from mainland to mainland, can be stranded in emergencies or instances with delays or cancellations. Depending on the route, a few select businesses may be benefitted by these delays, but usually only if they are within walking distance from the terminal. Most other businesses served by people crossing the water are affected because they cannot get deliveries or even customers in some cases, making it hard for them to survive. Supplies and deliveries usually come in big trucks at the earliest or latest sailings of the day, in order to have space on the ferries and help restock businesses to be ready for opening. The San Juans does not have very early sailings, so trucks fill up in the commuter sailings. For example, sailings to Lopez Island from Anacortes in the morning are either at 7:10 arriving at the terminal or 11. Considering all of the freight needing to be delivered to that island with 6 grocery stores, a gas station and a hardware store, along with any commuters or early morning travelers, it is definitely hard to travel up there. In general, these issues cause anxiety to everyone affected by the system. 

Inconveniences

Many times, people need to get on or off the island for something, but realize there is a two hour gap before the next ferry, so they have to cut short their day to leave early and wait for a sailing just in case to make sure that they are not late. For example, with the San Juans and Anacortes, if you are going on a long drive in the morning to the mainland, residents on Orcas or Shaw Island can’t even get to Anacortes until 8:20. This sailing is taken by what they call the inter-island vessel, the Tillikum, which unfortunately only holds 87 vehicles. The Tillikum was supposed to be retired, but was set to be used in emergencies only. The fleet would be even smaller, so they kept it in service, and now it is the oldest ferry. A ferry should be in service for 60 years. It goes through its normal life, then enters a time of service reliability risk when it would usually be retired some time around then. The Tillikum has lived past its reliability risk time and should’ve been retired in 2022. Next year, two vessels will also be at the end of their service reliability risk time, so the new vessels are urgently needed. The Tillikum, second smallest boat size of the fleet, just larger than the Pt. Defiance - Tahlequah ferry would be stopping at four terminals per sailing: Friday Harbor, Orcas, Shaw, and Lopez. It drops off and picks up cars, but reservations and larger trucks will significantly shrink the capacity for cars just driving up; furthermore, there are no reservations to Anacortes, the mainland, from Lopez, which means vehicles need to arrive very early for sailings like the 2:00PM taking only 8 cars on Thursday through Sunday. After an hour and forty minutes waiting, they only get a tiny space; in addition, there are no reservations from Lopez to Anacortes, and it is 4 miles away to get to Lopez Village for something to do. Just to go shopping takes the entire day for many places, and some cannot get to the mainland until 8:20. Due to the shortage of crew and vessels, the system even closed an entire route from 2020, and it will not reopen until at least 2030, this being from Anacortes to Sidney, B.C. (Anderson).

Solving the Problems

Recent Changes to Address Problems

What has the system done recently to help address these problems? One recent big change was the conversion of the Wenatchee. This vessel has been converted to hybrid, and now it doesn’t need as much diesel to power. You could think of it similar to a Prius or electric car. Two of its diesel engines were turned into electric systems like battery banks, converters, and electric motors. Fuel consumption of the Wenatchee has decreased by 25%, decreasing the climate pollution emitted by 20%. Eventually, ferries will be all-electric, shrinking to only 5% emission levels from pre-system-conversion. WSF awarded Stemman-Technik, a company in Germany, to supply the vessel charging systems in late 2025. Unfortunately, there are some downsides to just one boat being converted now. First of all, it has already had multiple engine failures while in service, cancelling and delaying sailings on the Seattle to Bainbridge route, which takes a huge amount of passengers and commuters, and considering how small the fleet is currently, it can cause other major service disruptions on other routes with less traffic. Also, when pulled from service, it is out for many months because it is a new change for the system with all of the new equipment. When repairing the propulsion system, it is a different repair to work on than the other vessels. In addition, it has to be charged, and very few of the terminals are not converted to charge the vessel, so it can only serve a few routes. The Wenatchee is the second largest ferry, and converting it saves on more gas than a smaller vessel, and it is on the newer side, so it will be in service until at least 2052. The two other largest in the fleet are the Puyallup, which serves Edmonds and Kingston, and the Tacoma, which usually serves Seattle - Bremerton. Before the Wenatchee’s conversion, these ferries alone contributed 26% of the whole fleet’s emissions. They will be converted, but the World Cup has delayed their conversion because it takes so long and traffic will be many times worse without them in service (Anderson). Boats currently range from 6 to 63 years old. In 2015, the fleet was a total of 24, but five have been retired since: The Klahowya, Elwha, Hyak, the Evergreen State, and one other. Three have been added: The Suquamish, Chimacum, and Samish (Long Range Plan).

New Vessels

What are plans for change with the ferry system? Recently, the system has begun work with a shipbuilding company in Florida called Eastern Shipbuilding to construct new boats. This is one of the first out-of-state vessels in the current fleet, other than the Kaleetan, one of the oldest vessels, which was made in San Diego in 1967. They are currently building 3 hybrid-electric vessels holding 160 vehicles (vs most commonly 124 car vessels serving the north end). This is the first competitive ferry bid for construction in over 25 years for the WSF system, won by Eastern Shipbuilding. Being the nation’s largest ferry system and the second largest in the world, new state-of-the art technology is needed. Obviously, new technology will be added to these new boats, and will mainly be for shoreside recharging and battery storage to cut down on diesel emissions. New vessels will have a speed of 17 knots at a full load and will interface with all of the current docks. Between now and 2040, 13 vessels will be at or past the end of their lifespan. These are mainly the 124-car Issaquah Class vessels, and a few larger boats. They commonly serve the north-end of the island, as well as other places. 16 new vessels are to be completed by 2040. Electrification at terminals is planned and will take place until 2027. The Chetzemoka, serving the south end, is on the newer side of the fleet and is planned to be converted to hybrid-electric in 2031.

Construction and Route Capacities

Other plans for the system that are being done are very beneficial for the system, like changing the docks and welding facility at Eagle Harbor (The main maintenance facility for the ferries next to the Bainbridge Island Terminal). When I was visiting, Tim Clancy, the General Maintenance Manager of Eagle Harbor showed me around the facility and two vessels. One thing that I noticed is their welding facility. It was dirty, old, rusty, completely open air, and overall a nasty place to have to work, so they are in construction of a new welding area with much better working conditions. This will streamline the welding process which will increase service throughout the fleet. The Bainbridge-Bremerton-Seattle routes always have a few of the biggest five vessels, but they cannot even fit at the Eagle Harbor maintenance facility; instead, they must be dry-docked by the Port of Seattle for repairs. Because the Issaquah Class has been at such high demand, they have not been able to reach their proper maintenance time, and will be retired 10 years early at around 50 years old instead of the planned 60. There will be an approximately 11.5% increase in riders until 2040, so larger boats are needed to accommodate travelers on and off the island. The Mukilteo dock has been remade to give better landings for the vessels, and the walk on terminal is new with a wood and concrete style. The Coleman Dock (Seattle downtown terminal) has had a lot of construction in recent years changing and improving the entire terminal and the Marion Street Pedestrian Bridge.

Terminal Conversion and New Technology Implementation

There is also more terminal conversion and restoration continuing into the years ahead, including the finishing of the Seattle terminal, and work on the Southworth and Fauntleroy terminals. One of the most important terminals is Eagle Harbor, the maintenance facility. It doesn’t get sailings back and forth but it is where most vessels get repaired and upgraded; it is to be preserved until at least 2040. Other than the largest five, all of the other vessels get maintenance there, and without maintenance, the system just couldn’t run. Also for 2040, 17 terminals are proposed to be electrified. The EV charging triangle for dropping off passengers is very small at the Fauntleroy dock, which is terrible during school commuter sailings, and the dock itself cannot even hold a full load of cars. WSF began planning for the modification of the Fauntleroy dock to address traffic in December of 2025, which will be helpful with the 2.3 million riders/year. It is urgently needed because traveling to the island on Friday evenings is terrible. Cars accidentally cut the others, people can’t tell if a car is parked or not, it is just a very bad setup for the amount of cars traveling every day. This should also help for when they return the triangle route to a full-time 3 boat schedule. Currently, they are trying to have weekends on the triangle route be a three boat schedule, but the third boat is the Sealth, which is the same size, but without the upper decks on the sides. This means that it has a smaller capacity, totaling at 90 cars instead of the other vessels in the Issaquah Class’ 124-car. For Point Defiance, there are plans to add terminal electrification, preservation, and improve the terminal to reduce cars queuing on Pearl Street. (WSF Executive Summary). A full system is currently 21 vessels with 18 operating at a time to account for maintenance. There are plans for a 26-ferry fleet by 2040 (McNichols). The website is to be improved as well to help get automated and real-time travel info. There have even been plans to have automatic vehicle passenger counting to automatically detect the number of passengers to allow prepaid vehicles to drive directly onto the ferry, but this is a lesser priority for the system at this point. Public Wi-Fi will be implemented for all travelers. Transit, pedestrian, and bike travel access to and from terminals is to be improved, as well as pickup and dropoff areas. There are plans along with the vessel conversion to create less emissions. We are at the beginning of a zero-emission fleet for the future (WSF 2040 Long Range Plan).

Workarounds or Solutions for the Public

What can we do to help fix these problems or make workarounds until they are addressed? One main way is to join the FROG (Ferry Riders Opinion Group) and fill out surveys. The Washington State Transportation Commission is inviting riders and the general public to join the FROG, letting them share experiences and give feedback that directly helps shape service, operations, and fares. There are periodic online surveys that can also help them gather input and bring positive change to the system. One sample is from March 26 to April 16 of 2025, where 3,202 riders were interviewed. As for the overall satisfaction, 69% are somewhat satisfied, compared to 54% in 2024, and 58% in 2023. Only 21% are dissatisfied overall. FVS has actually seen the most increase in satisfaction, and only one route had a decrease, being Mukilteo-Clinton. This may be because of the recent terminal changes (FROG). For workarounds, one way is the Water Taxis. They are fairly consistent, they are clean, and they are fast; unfortunately, they still have downsides. They are not overly frequent so they do not cover for great timing throughout the day. They also are only for foot and bike traffic, so cars have to go through the normal WSF system to get off the island. They could be bumpy because they are smaller on a windy day. Another workaround is carpooling or buses. You can join with friends or family in one car that arrives early to ensure you make the sailing you want to. It may get cramped, but it is a good workaround for getting off and on the island. Buses are also an option, but are not too consistent either and have very limited coverage across the island. Planning ahead and getting to the terminal early is a good way to make the boat you are targeting, or even an earlier one. The problem with this is that you are 

just waiting and losing a large chunk of time just to get home. Motorcycles get priority loading as well, which lets you skip the line; unfortunately, there is barely any space for storage or anything on motorcycles.

Planning Ahead

A way to plan ahead is to check the real-time-map on the WSF site/app to see how late the boats are currently, and check the alerts page to see if there are any changes to timing, boats, schedules, or any other issues. Another is to make reservations for a few routes that have it, but unfortunately Vashon doesn’t. You can also give feedback about the website to see what they can improve. One thing that I think they can modify is the real-time-map, which is very old and hard to interact with on mobile, which most people will check it with. There is an alternative: The WSDOT App. Many travelers use this instead of the website, but there are also some things that could be improved. Alerts do not always affect the schedule, and it does not tell you what boat is taking that sailing. This means that, although it is a better option, with the current state of the vessel's reliability, people want to double-check that the vessel they are planning on riding on is not late. Some routes like Mukilteo - Clinton have other third-party sites like Whidbey Telecom, that have a streamlined map using the live data from the system to show alerts, timing, and cameras. Boats are really the only way off of Vashon (other than airplanes), so until the WSF system is fully restored, these workarounds will be very helpful. There are other apps like FerryFriend that also have a different look with lots of information in a functional, interactive, and accurate app. Around every 3 months, WSF has a community meeting for anyone to ask questions or get informed about changes and give comments. This is a good opportunity to find out more about the system and how they work directly with people working for WSF, and the FROG is similar.

Solutions Proposed by Others

There are a few proposed solutions to these issues. One is that the system should invest in a few diesel ferries that will be faster to make which will get the system more functional faster. This unfortunately would set back the hybrid emission fleet by 2040 by a year if they were to be converted later. The first five hybrid electric ferries are already on the way, so this solution won’t save much time. By 2040, the system wants a hybrid powered system and all electric with zero emissions by 2050. This will cost a total of 23.5 billion dollars, which is incredibly expensive. In 2023 alone, the north end route’s economic impact on Kitsap County was 33 million dollars for just one county on one route! There were 3 million riders on the north end route in 2023. The conversion of vessels will help with the emissions. The Wenatchee takes 20 million passengers across from Bainbridge to Seattle and back, but without conversion would use 19 billion gallons of diesel per year! The conversion will cut down on diesel use, but when they are being converted and are out of service, there may be disruptions throughout the routes with the reduced number of vessels and amount of boats in maintenance resulting in possibly even more increased overall emissions from all vehicles affected.

Funding the Ferries

Funding and Proposed Diesel Ferries

Prices for the ferries are going up and the residents and travelers to the island haven’t seen much of the effects. So, where does the system get its funding? There are a few main places. In the USA, the farebox recovery ratio is, on average, 35%. This means that 35% of the funding for the average public transit system in the country is by passenger fares for the sailings. In the states, they range from only 9% in Austin to up to the outlier of 81% with Amtrak. They tend to be much lower than 80%, though. For the Washington State Ferries in specific, the farebox recovery ratio is around 50%, which is high. This could be considered good, but this does not guarantee service quality and reliability. Some may argue that it is actually bad because it is so high, because the prices keep going up and that there are many other ways of funding a larger portion of the system. From 2023-2025, the farebox recovery ratio was 57%. I think that if there were other ways that the ferries were being funded that that would be better, because the prices are just so expensive compared to what it used to be. The service is focusing on the decrease in emissions, but the service is so bad that I think if a few diesel ferries are implemented quickly, they can be converted later. I don’t think it’s bad that they are becoming hybrid, just that I think it should be less of a priority considering how expensive the system is for how little effects Vashon routes have seen. The 2025-27 Washington Transportation budget was announced at 15.7 billion, and a portion of that, 1.8 billion, is being poured into the ferry system. 1.2 billion of that are to make the new hybrid electric ferries, 288 million is for terminal conversion to support the hybrid electric ferries and restore them in general, and 21.6 million will be for updating the ticketing and reservation system. Considering that two thirds of the money put aside for the ferries is going to hybrid conversion during this level of service inefficiency, I think that a few diesel ferries would be nice to settle the main issues and then convert them later. The new hybrid vessels would arrive in 2028 to 2030, but if they immediately started making a diesel vessel with enough money without time to make an initiative (as in they just started building it), it would arrive in 2028. If the system makes an initiative and scrapes up some funding, they would arrive around the same time as the hybrid vessels. If the hybrid vessels arrive on time, I would just keep those and not make any diesel vessels. If they arrive late or there aren’t enough boats to address the service issues, I think that one or two diesel vessels in around the Olympic Class (144-car in size) would be good for the system as a whole and be converted later. This may delay the hybrid electric system-wide goal by a year, but overall the system’s issues cause lots of emissions on their own. Cars drive all the way to the terminal, using a paper ticket, idling in the waiting areas, just to be forced to wait an hour longer or get sent home if a route is cancelled. It is less direct as the emissions from one big source like the ferries, so I think it is less thought about. It will add stress to the staff and the travelers, and keep people working longer, losing sleep, and a long list of things that a late or cancelled sailing can induce. Another 14 million is set aside for general improvements to the existing fleet and 41 million to improve the Kingston terminal and Eagle Harbor. Around 18 million was to the Kingston work, leaving 23 million for Eagle Harbor. When I was visiting, Tim Clancy showed me around the work areas. One thing I noticed was how bad of a work area the welding area was. It was open air, dirty, rusty, and just a bad place to work. One part of this budget is going to a new welding facility that is clean, larger, and not exposed. They were constructing this when I visited. An additional 12.5 million has been awarded for the welding facility, leaving 15 for other repair and maintenance projects.

Funding From Special Programs

One other way that the ferries get their funding are from special programs, especially cap and invest. The cap and invest program in the state puts a limit or cap on how much emissions a business can produce. Gradually, the cap will be decreased over time, decreasing emissions made from the state. The goal is to have net-zero emissions by 2050. The investment part is where carbon allowances are sold in auctions, and the money is put towards decreasing the emissions by the state. This can be good because it funds a good chunk of the ferries, and helps make the system not only be paid by travelers on them. Unfortunately, there are some downsides. Cap and invest will also increase gas prices because businesses need to keep emissions down, and increase utility prices for the same reason. Gas in Washington’s price is usually increased by 25-27 cents due to cap and investment alone, and utilities have higher rates due to this program depending on their size and usage. I think that cap and invest is generally good, again, because it keeps a large chunk of the system not only funded by people directly traveling with the system. 

I think that overall, the system’s funding is realistic, maybe if there was another source than half from people paying $20 just to get home, that would be nice. I think that maybe one diesel vessel could be a good idea, but it would be a bit of a hassle to get the funding and start an initiative and encourage the construction, so unfortunately, I think we just have to wait for the new vessels to arrive.

Service Actions

In my service action, I wanted to find out as much as I could about the ferry system and then have some way to put it all together and inform the islanders of what I learned. One thing I remembered is that someone at my church was a retired ferry captain, Marsha Morse. I wanted to talk to her about the state of the system and her experience being a captain and working for the ferries for so long. For my service action, I did a few things. First, I interviewed Marsha. Then, I went to Eagle Harbor, WSF’s main maintenance facility in Bainbridge Island and talked to Tim Clancy, the General Maintenance Manager of Eagle Harbor. After my visit, I wrote an article for The Beachcomber and made a basic website with some videos that I produced about the service actions that I did.

Interviewing Marsha Morse

I began with my interview with Marsha Morse. She is a ferry captain that retired recently after over 45 years working in the WSF system. She gave me lots of helpful knowledge and information about the history of the system, how it works, and how it developed over the years. I came up with questions and asked them to her. Beforehand, I didn’t think much about how working with the ferry for so long would give me so much knowledge before the issues with the ferries arose. She told me multiple interesting stories about the old boats and things that happened. When the interview was done, I created a video of a recording I took during the interview. I didn’t know so much about the ferries and how complicated they are until this interview, and the next part of my action emphasized how complex all of this really is.

Visiting Eagle Harbor and Tim Clancy

A few days later, I got in contact with WSF and got connected to Tim Clancy. He is the General Maintenance Manager of Eagle Harbor. Around a week later, I went downtown, sailed across the water on the Wenatchee, the hybrid ferry, and arrived at Eagle Harbor. If you are landing at Bainbridge, off the left side of the boat, you can see into the maintenance facility and you will dock right next to one of the old retired ferries, the Hyak, which is currently waiting for a buyer. The system wants to find a buyer that can do something with the ferry that is not just rotting in a pond. Once we passed their security, Tim took my mom and I into his office and gave me some helpful documents and charts. After that, he showed us around the facility and their new welding area during construction. It was interesting to see where all of the parts of the ferry come from when they are replaced and how they do big projects. Once we toured the facility, he took me onto the Samish, an Olympic Class vessel, 144-car, (slightly larger than our 124-car vessels). It was in for twelve weeks getting a lot of maintenance. They showed me how they had to take out two chunks of the car deck and install new parts into it. He showed me how they set up the anti-slip metal to keep the walkways and car deck walkable and drivable in the rain, and through some of the underground living areas and crew-only staircases. Next, he took me to the Salish, commonly the ghost boat at the north end or the replacement for the Chetzemoka at the south end. He took me into the restricted areas and showed me around what maintenance they were doing to it, and then to the pilothouse where they pilot the ship. Tim had to go to a meeting to set up the maintenance schedules for the future, so we parted ways and headed back to Vashon. After the interview and visit, I made a video of my trip to Bainbridge and the visit with Tim. Once I had done all of this, I created a Beachcomber article that was added into the February 10th paper that talked about my service action and some of the research that I’ve done. Basically a shorter version of this research paper.

Reflections on the Service Action

What was challenging about the service action? Going back and forth with the people I was emailing and getting my Beachcomber article released was tricky because I would get a response, and then after two days I would get another and send things back in between, so it took a while to get everything set up. One interesting thing that I learned is that people actually live on the ferries. Under the car deck and out of public sight, 400 crew across the system are working tirelessly in the engine room from sailing to sailing. Crews stay with the vessel and can live on ferries if the route they are on is far away from where they live. If there is a vessel serving Vashon an employee lives far north, they wouldn’t want to spend their entire few hours off driving home.

Concluding Thoughts

The Washington State Ferries have a few main problems they need to solve; they are expensive, short of crews, overflowing, late, or cancelled. Crews are being hired, plans for new terminals are in the works and already being implemented, unfortunately prices aren’t going down anytime soon, but new vessels are on the way. In the near future, the ferry system, especially with Vashon, will see the effects of the funding. Fixing these problems is important because tens of millions of travelers are impacted by the ferries, and it has to be as functional as possible as the largest ferry system in the country, second largest in the world. The ferries are definitely worth looking into and learning more about because of how complex they really are. It is also important to know about because that is the only way we get off the island, in which we travel on all the time. This was a great topic for me to research because I have been interested in the ferries for a long time and, again, we travel across the sound all the time through the ferries. I proposed some solutions, but many people already do them and they don’t do enough, so I think that we just have to wait on the new boats for some of the problems to be solved, but prices are another story. The ferries have been in “rough seas” due to Covid and all of the other problems I listed, so it is a good time to learn about them when huge changes that the system has never seen are being introduced. The ferries have plans to continue through 2050, until new problems will be addressed, so next time you leave the island, make sure to stop and think about how complex the system really is, not just a ride off the island.