House Bill 1923, sponsored by Rep. Greg Nance (D-23rd, Bainbridge Island) and dubbed the Mosquito Fleet Act, would have allowed water-adjacent cities, counties, transit agencies and port districts from Olympia to Friday Harbor to set up their own passenger-only ferry (POF) districts. Unlocking the ability to go to the voters for funding to establish new routes, the field of potential ferry districts would be dramatically expanded beyond Kitsap Transit and King County, who currently have specific carve-outs in state law to fund and operate their ferry systems.

Despite an overwhelming 84-11 vote in the Washington House in mid-February, the version approved by the Senate last week is essentially a different bill, following a striking amendment put forward by Senate transportation committee chair Marko Liias (D-21st, Mukilteo). Striking amendments replace all of the text of the bill, causing advocates to scramble to understand the implications of the new language.

Liias’s amendment adds requirements for new passenger-ferry districts to only procure vessels made in Washington State, to only operate zero-emission vessels, and includes a ban on all state funding for passenger ferry districts starting in just two years. It restricts new POF districts from being able to utilize the sales tax funding that current districts use, instead switching them over to a potential property tax.

The new Senate version would also require passenger ferry districts to not overlap and be “mutually exclusive” — language that appears to prevent multiple jurisdictions from being able to coordinate on establishing POF districts. San Juan County Commissioner Jane Fuller told The Urbanist she’s concerned that this means they wouldn’t be able to work with the Port of Friday Harbor or nearby Whatcom or Skagit Counties on setting up potential new ferry routes between Friday Harbor and Bellingham and/or Anacortes.

“I am concerned that the changes will significantly impact the ability of local jurisdictions to move forward with setting up passenger-only ferry service,” Fuller said. “It’s so impactful as to call those amendments — from my vantage in San Juan County, and knowing the situation and other counties that have chosen to be a part of the new county ferry caucus — render the bill in that form, something of a non-starter for local jurisdictions to do passenger-only ferries.”

“We have sister counties that are quite well endowed, like Skagit, like Whatcom, that are interested in partnering with this county on some passenger-only ferry options. So that’s a difficult pill to swallow,” Fuller said.

Nance, who first put forward this bill last year after seeing his district struggle with unplanned service disruptions on the state ferry system, also blasted Liias’s changes.

“The intent of the Mosquito Fleet Act is to let local communities get boats on the water as quickly and cost-effectively as possible,” Nance wrote to The Urbanist via email just before the Senate’s floor vote. “Every single one of Marko Liias’s proposed changes makes things slower, more expensive, and less power for local communities. It makes projects impossible. Zero relief for commuters, zero help for communities, zero jobs under Liias’s proposed amendment.”

Peter Philips, a marine transit advocate and former publisher of Fishermen’s News and Pacific Maritime Magazine, told The Urbanist that he reacted the Senate’s amendments with a combination of confusion, disbelief, and extreme disappointment.

“I don’t understand why this bill did not just sail through with universal approbation. It’s this very simple, elegantly written bill that allows communities to take independent action and fund that independent action on their own,” Philips said. He noted that the requirement to build new vessels, a provision that would likely make new passenger ferry districts ineligible for federal funding, would be incredibly counterproductive.

Last year, the legislators faced pushback from labor groups over Governor Bob Ferguson’s decision to procure the first three new vehicle ferries built in decades from a Florida-based manufacturer, dollars that will now not be spent in state. But the manufacturing landscape for new passenger ferries is very different, setting aside any hypocrisy on the legislature’s part.

“Concerns by labor over Build In Washington mandates for the big ships is justified. However, with small passenger-only ferries, no other state would build these boats,” Philips said. “Gulf coast yards would not be competitive, because the cost to bring those boats around to Washington State would make it cost prohibitive for those yards to bid on the work competitively. There are no other new build yards on the West Coast of the United States that can do this. There are at least nine shipyards that I know of in Washington State that have the ability and expertise to build passenger-only ferries, so there’s no need for Build In Washington mandate.”

In remarks on the Senate floor, Liias described the changes made as being in search of a compromise, while outlining clear reservations about the idea of scaling up ferry service that would compete with Washington State Ferries (WSF) vehicle ferry service.

“My concern, not as a boat lover, but as the chair of the transportation committee, is our state ferry system has tremendous capital needs on the horizon. We need to spend at least $3.5 billion dollars over the course of the next decade to acquire new vessels to replace our aging fleet. And so my priority across time has been to make sure that our state ferry system is healthy and functional and strong,” Liias said. “I’m concerned that creating expectations to create a new system of passenger ferries will create obligations for us to help stand up and fund these activities at a time when we haven’t yet funded our own ferry system.”

If a battle between WSF and future passenger ferry systems is seen as zero-sum as he described, then the policy changes included in his striker take on a new light, and could be seen as less aimed at achieving their objectives and more about kneecapping systems that have the ability to be much more nimble.

Liias was not available for an interview with The Urbanist ahead of the publication of this story.

“This feels like tremendous overreach on what many of us, as jurisdictions impacted by WSF service, would like to be doing in terms of empowering ourselves and coming up with solutions that will offset the impacts to our local economies and our communities of very beleaguered service of WSF,” Fuller said. “It feels like the state is putting its hand in its way and inhibiting any flexibility we may have to be creative about how we do that, including finding cost-efficient ways of doing this by partnering with other other jurisdictions.”

Fuller noted that state ferry service has improved in recent months as the agency has made gains in crew availability and made strategic decisions around how to maintain service on the San Juan Islands specifically. But framed the idea of curtailing additional mobility options as short-sighted given the long timescale to potentially fix the major issues that the state ferry system faces, including a dozen aging ferry vessels set to be retired and in need of replacement by 2040.

Under current ferry construction timelines, WSF will not have all three of the new vessels it recently procured ready for service until 2032, with legislators this year turning down the idea of issuing bonds to get the next three new boats into the construction pipeline.

“We are seeing some positive change. I will be the first to say that, and others would echo that,” Fuller said. “However, we cannot do anything about the fact that vessels are beyond their lifespan, that vessels are needing to be replaced, and that they can’t possibly be replaced, at least in a reasonable timeframe, and consequently we’re going to have more and more crises facing us in times ahead.”

Nance is hopeful that the bill can be fixed after it heads back to the House. That chamber can force the Senate to vote on receding from all of its amendments, but if that vote fails, the bill would head to a conference committee. With just four working days left until the end of the session on March 12, time is of the essence.

“The future of ferries hangs in the balance,” Nance wrote.

The post Mosquito Fleet Act Runs Into Choppy Seas in the State Senate first appeared on The Urbanist.

The issues with aging vessels aren’t expected to improve anytime soon, even as the agency starts to receive its next new vessels, expected by 2030.

That’s why Representative Greg Nance (D-23rd, Bainbridge Island) introduced House Bill 1923 — the Mosquito Fleet Act — last year. Under current state law, only a limited number of local governments, specifically King County and Kitsap Transit, are able to operate foot ferries, despite clear opportunities for new routes across the state. It would empower other transit agencies, counties, cities, port districts, and even Sound Transit to set up their own passenger-only ferry (POF) districts, giving them revenue tools including a dedicated sales tax and commercial parking taxes, along with all of the other revenue tools normally available to transit agencies, such as the ability to charge passengers and lease advertising space.

The bill’s name is a reference to the era of marine travel during the late 19th and early 20th centuries when passenger boats were so plentiful they looked like a swarm of mosquitos, criss-crossing Puget Sound and other bodies of water throughout the state including Lake Washington and Lake Sammamish.

With this new authority, potential new routes including Friday Harbor to Bellingham, Whidbey Island to Everett, and Olympia to Tacoma could be on the table. While any new taxes would need to be approved by the voters within a ferry district, right now state law prevents them from getting on the ballot in the first place. Though there may be governments in other areas interested in looking at passenger ferry service, right now the Mosquito Fleet Act would be limited to those touching Puget Sound or Grays Harbor.

The Mosquito Fleet Act passed the House last year on a landslide 87 to 8 vote, but it’s back again awaiting a House floor vote by this Tuesday, after getting hung up in the Senate’s transportation committee. Despite a public hearing that brought out more than a dozen local elected officials and representatives of port districts from up and down Puget Sound in support, the bill died without getting a committee vote on the Senate side.

(Update: the Mosquito Fleet Act was approved by the House on an 84 to 11 vote Monday, and now heads back to the Senate transportation committee.)

In a conversation with The Urbanist, Nance was forthcoming about the fact that his bill had broad support on the Senate side, but not from that committee’s Chair, Marko Liias (D-21st, Mukilteo).

“It was very clear that there was actually a lot of support from committee members, but unfortunately, not the support we needed from the Chair to actually bring in for executive action,” Nance said.

He’s hoping to galvanize even more support behind the Mosquito Fleet Act this year to avoid a repeat performance.

“I want this to be the kind of thing where the Chair, if he says, ‘Look, we’re not going to do this,’ at least bring it to a vote, rather than quietly pocketing this like last year,” Nance said. “There should be a political cost to killing legislation that would help several communities and hundreds of workers around the sound.”

In making the case for the Mosquito Fleet Act, Nance points to the short lead time that can be involved in setting up a passenger ferry system, compared to the long holding pattern that the state ferry system is in. In November of 2016, Kitsap Transit went the voters for authority to start running passenger ferries between Seattle and Bremerton — a service that had previously been offered by the state until budget cuts over a decade earlier — and was able to start running boats by the next July.

“What’s really come into clear fidelity [over] the last year is we don’t have the operational slack at WSF to actually maintain the 17 boats we have, and that’s really, really troubling,” Nance said. “We’re facing a really tough math problem, and we need to quickly flip the script there, and part of how we’re not going to do that is by magically snapping our fingers when it comes to auto ferries. However, we do have far more supply locally of passenger ferries, and we have shipyards that will testify that they want to be building more, want to be training more apprentices.”

Another potential landmine for the Mosquito Fleet Act is the bill’s fiscal note. An assessment of the hit the state’s own coffers would take if the bill passed, the note was unusually high for a bill that only unlocks potential local taxing authority, thanks to a prediction around the number of state employees needed to help set up that authority. Nance thinks those assumptions are way too broad, and is working on potential amendments that would help bring them back to earth.

“I think they’re using a very ambitious set of adoption measures here. Because in reality, this is not going to be 20 cities and six counties and 30 ports greenlighting a mosquito fleet. We’re going to start much, much, much more modestly,” Nance said.

Nance is also hopeful that with the Mosquito Fleet Act, the state can help find a way to restore the longstanding ferry connection between Sidney, British Columbia and Anacortes as well as Friday Harbor, a route that has been suspended since 2020 with no expectation of restoration before 2030, according to Washington State Ferries.

“I am bummed and embarrassed that our state has dropped the ball to the point where we can’t maintain this vital link that is also responsible for about 30% of small business revenue for San Juan County. What a devastating hit for these guys to take and there doesn’t seem to be any urgency at all to actually restore that,” Nance said. “It’s not as if this is some impossibility. We’ve just got to think outside the box a little bit.”

The post Mosquito Fleet Act Seeks to Throw Ferry-Oriented Communities a Lifeline first appeared on The Urbanist.

Thanks to $2.9 million in state funding that was confirmed this week, seven extra weekday round trips to and from Bremerton will be maintained through at least next August, keeping existing weekday service levels consistent through the off-season. But the Saturday service cuts represent an initial step away from supplemental runs that started in 2022 thanks to state support. Initially intended to fill gaps in WSF service in the wake of a 50% service cut in fall of 2021, the extra trips came to be depended on as an improvement over the previous service, saving a full hour for someone making a weekend round trip to or from Bremerton without a car.

The agency will continue to maintain Saturday fast ferry service to Bremerton from May through September, alongside seasonal service to Kingston and Southworth.

While the state transportation budget was finalized in late April and signed by Governor Bob Ferguson in mid-May, the near-term future state of fast ferry service remained unclear until this week. That two-year budget included a $4 million allocation that was left to WSF to divvy up between Kitsap Transit and King County. King County, which was also provided additional state funding in 2024 to expand weekday water taxi trips to Vashon Island, has already announced that it will maintain those trips through at least 2027, providing Vashon residents with quicker access to Downtown Seattle.

Kitsap Transit framed the elimination of off-season Saturday service as the natural conclusion for the supplemental service, even as state lawmakers including Representative Greg Nance (D-23rd District, Bainbridge Island) have pushed for full funding to be maintained to provide a full range of mobility options in ferry-dependent communities.

“We’re glad to see Washington State Ferries has been able to restore two-boat service on the Bremerton-Seattle route,” John Clauson, Kitsap Transit’s Executive Director, said in a release. “We’re proud of how our fast-ferry crews stepped up to support our communities during these years when WSF worked to restore full service.”

The state ferry system remains in a precarious state. Even though WSF was able to restore service to pre-pandemic levels this summer, it remains without a spare relief vessel. “With only 21 vessels and an aging fleet requiring additional maintenance, WSF does not always have a standby vessel for emergency relief. Even when one is available, unscheduled repairs can quickly consume this extra capacity, and there will be periods when WSF will lack enough vessels to operate even the ‘baseline’ level of service,” the agency wrote in a service contingency plan released this spring.

Additionally, the service plan enacted this summer also reduces the availability of crew members to fill in when there are staffing shortages, which increases the risk of cancellations due to staffing even when there are vessels available.

But the state legislature remains laser-focused on Washington State Ferries, after a brief period of relying on other options to improve mobility for Puget Sound residents. If expanded passenger ferry service is on the horizon, it will likely be thanks to local governments and transit agencies, but the ability to stand up new passenger ferry districts remains limited by the same legislature. The Mosquito Fleet Act, introduced earlier this year, would have changed that, but concerns over costs stymied its advance during a tough budget year.

For now, the slow ramp down of additional passenger ferry service seems poised to continue.

The post Bremerton Fast Ferry Faces Saturday Service Cut This Fall first appeared on The Urbanist.

The agency’s preferred option is state-owned Pier 48 right next door, where King County holds a short-term lease on a maintenance float. But two additional options are set to be carried into a full environmental analysis: a portion of Pier 46 to the south, and newly rebuilt Pier 58 further north. Kitsap Transit is accepting comments to guide the scope of that environmental analysis through August 11, with the goal of completing its review by 2027.

Without a larger terminal, Kitsap Transit can’t expand service during peak hours beyond 12 landings, limiting the potential of adding additional routes. Along with providing space for additional vessels, a new Seattle terminal is intended to improve rider amenities (Pier 50 doesn’t have its own restrooms) and expand access to electric vessel charging.

Kitsap Transit has been eyeing potential sites for a terminal for several years. The project’s full environmental review comes at a time of uncertainty for fast ferry service into Seattle, with the state legislature pivoting away from what had looked like a potential new golden age for passenger-only ferries. The state transportation budget approved this spring prioritizes the Washington State Ferries (WSF) network ahead of passenger ferries, which lawmakers viewed as a supplement during times of reduced WSF service.

The legislature also declined to advance a bill making it easier for local governments to set up fast ferry districts, though that proposal may return in a future year.

The restoration of pre-pandemic service levels on WSF, including the return of two-boat service to Bremerton and three-boat service to Vashon Island, appears to have increased the perception that supplemental passenger ferry service is less essential, despite the ability for fast ferries to reduce travel times for riders, provide additional connectivity, and reduce climate pollution. Kitsap Transit’s foot ferries are twice as fast as WSF’s larger car-laden ferries.

Last month, King County announced the extension of supplemental service between Vashon Island and Downtown Seattle through 2027, but Kitsap Transit appears likely to reduce service levels on its Bremerton route as supplemental state funding runs out. King County and Kitsap Transit are in negotiations over a $4 million allocation that will determine the near-term future of those service levels. Potentially on the chopping block is the entirety of Saturday service to Bremerton through the off-season, which many riders have come to rely on.

“Kitsap Transit will continue operating state-funded supplemental Bremerton Fast Ferry service beyond Monday, June 30,” an announcement in late June noted. “Kitsap Transit is taking this step to avoid unnecessary disruption to riders while it continues to work with Washington State Ferries (WSF) to determine the level of state funding available for extending these additional sailings. Kitsap Transit will notify the public at least 30 days before the last day of the supplemental sailings.”

Pier 46, the preferred site for a new fast ferry terminal, is owned by the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT), and mostly sits unused and deteriorating. The state has earmarked $20 million to start demolishing the existing pier, work that would have to proceed any future use for the property, but that demolition work hasn’t started yet.

A decade ago, as part of the Waterfront Seattle project, the City of Seattle considered what a redeveloped Pier 48 could look like as additional park space that also included space for passenger ferry berths. Funded by the state’s Department of Commerce, that design work has been sitting on a shelf, and it’s not clear what exactly the City of Seattle’s vision for the space looks like right now. Recently the site has come back on the City’s radar as part of Bruce Harrell’s Downtown Activation Plan, but details on that work have been scarce.

In selecting potential sites, Pier 48 rose above the rest in its potential to accommodate Kitsap Transit’s growing fleet. “[Kitsap Transit] selected the Pier 48 property as the proposed preferred alternative because it ranks high on all five criteria and is the only one that has sufficient space to support a long-term [passenger-only ferry] terminal facility without affecting other waterfront properties,” a 2023 screening report noted.

The other two sites Kitsap Transit is looking at are longshots.

“A new terminal located at the Pier 46 North Apron is feasible but would require demolition of the existing Pier 48 and long-term use of in-water space on the Pier 48 property,” that report continued. Pier 46 is also being eyed for base expansion by the U.S. Coast Guard, a move that the Port of Seattle has pushed back on, arguing that base expansion would give up valuable cargo loading space.

Even less likely is Pier 58, which has not yet reopened as a park space as part of the Waterfront Seattle project, though work is nearly done. The newly rebuilt pier includes a new children’s playground, a refurbished fountain area with seating, and an artificial lawn. Adding berths for ferries is possible, but making way for amenities for riders would likely mean pushing out park uses. “The Pier 58 location is also feasible with respect to available space but would require coordination with the City of Seattle (City) for potential modifications of the City’s plans for their new park,” the scoping document noted.

Despite the near-term uncertainty around passenger ferry service levels, the Seattle Waterfront will continue to be a high-demand space when it comes to ferry service, and Kitsap Transit completing the full environmental would be a big step forward for future expansion.

The Kitsap Transit Board of Directors is set to hold a public hearing for the official scoping period on July 15, at 8:30am.

The post Kitsap Transit Considers Alternatives for a New Seattle Fast Ferry Terminal first appeared on The Urbanist.

While the near-term future of passenger ferry service levels to and from Downtown Seattle is becoming clearer, the future of additional Kitsap Transit fast ferry service to Bremerton that many Puget Sound residents have come to depend on is more murky. That extra foot ferry service was intended to make up for WSF reductions, and quickly became popular.

This summer, Washington State Ferries (WSF) is restoring service to both Bremerton and Vashon Island to pre-pandemic service levels for the first time since 2020. Seattle-Bremerton service has already seen two-boat service restored, with three-boat service returning to Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth by June 30.

But many local residents had been hoping to see the extra passenger-only ferry service stick around to continue to provide a backup option for ferry-dependent communities.

That wish has been granted for Vashon Islanders. King County is set to spend around $2.5 million per year to keep four round trips in place between Vashon Island and Downtown Seattle’s Pier 50 through summer of 2027. The state’s overall allocation to the county was $10 million in all.

This spring, usage of the Vashon water taxi has climbed to nearly 600 daily riders, approximately double the number of riders seen two years prior. The 10 total daily round trips directly to downtown cut travel times considerably compared to riders who would otherwise have to head through West Seattle.

“Midday water taxi service has been a lifeline for the Vashon community over the last year, providing reliable connections to healthcare, employment and local businesses,” King County Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda said in response to this week’s news.

Mosqueda was an outspoken advocate for additional service to Vashon in 2024, and hailed the program as a success.

“Ridership numbers and feedback I’ve received from islanders underscore the success of adding these trips to mitigate reduced Washington State Ferries service,” Mosqueda said. “I’m thrilled that we will be able to continue this service that is so vital to Vashon’s public health and local economy. A huge thanks to the Vashon community for their advocacy and to our state legislative partners, led by Senator Emily Alvarado, for their partnership.”

Meanwhile, nearly 2,000 daily riders hopped on the Bremerton fast ferry over the same time period, given the higher number of trips that Kitsap Transit offers and the larger population center that is serves.

Why is the future of Bremerton fast ferry service in limbo? Kitsap Transit and King County are currently in negotiations with WSF over a separate pot of $4 million also intended for passenger ferry service. Until those negotiations conclude, it’s not known exactly how many additional trips Kitsap Transit will be able to operate on its Bremerton-Seattle route through the off-season, including whether the agency offers any trips on Saturdays.

Currently, the Bremerton Fast Ferry operates 20 round-trips weekdays through the summer, of which seven are funded by the Washington Department of Transportation (WSDOT), and 10 round-trips on Saturdays, all of which are funded by Kitsap Transit. During the winter schedule — October through April — WSDOT funding allows the agency to operate seven round-trips on Saturdays, along with those additional seven weekday trips. The extra trips have been made possible with $5 million allocated for the 2023-2025 biennium, which ends June 30.

“We understand that WSDOT was appropriated $4 million to temporarily supplement passenger-only ferry service by Kitsap Transit and King County Water Taxi, and that Washington State Ferries (WSF) will determine the most effective way to use these funds,” Kitsap Transit spokesperson Sanjay Bhatt told The Urbanist. “We will notify our customers when we have clarity on the outcome and how that impacts our Bremerton Fast Ferry schedule after June 30.”

The entire $4 million likely wouldn’t be enough to sustain all of the supplemental trips for two years, but that funding could represent a bridge to maintain them through next year’s transportation budget. However, it’s clear that many legislators see the extra Kitsap fast ferry trips as superfluous given the return of two-boat service to Colman Dock.

Earlier this year, when Representative Greg Nance (D-23rd, Bainbridge Island) helped to secure a one-time $3.5 million for Kitsap Transit in the House transportation budget, that funding didn’t survive reconciliation with the Senate’s budget. Senate transportation committee chair Marko Liias (D-21st, Edmonds) told reporters that the supplemental service was “always intended to sort of be a stop gap,” and that WSF investments were a higher priority. The Senate also failed to support Nance’s Mosquito Fleet Act, a bill that was intended to make it easier for local governments to set up passenger ferry districts.

While WSF’s service restorations are a big step forward, things still remain precarious. After restoring boats to this summer’s routes, the department will be operating 18 out of its 21 boats, with limited ability to sub in replacement vessels when repairs are needed. WSF’s contingency plan spells out which routes would see reduced service first when vessels aren’t available: Vashon, followed by Bremerton, followed by Port Townsend-Coupeville. The department clearly isn’t in a place where backup options like fast ferries are never going to be needed, apart from the direct benefits those fast ferries offer.

While mobility advocates in Vashon Island are celebrating the extension of fast ferry trips for a few more years, at least, Kitsap County ferry riders are still holding their breath.

The post Extra Vashon Water-Taxi Trips Extended, Bremerton Fast Ferry Could Face Cuts first appeared on The Urbanist.

As the Washington State House and Senate work toward a compromise two-year transportation budget ahead of the final day of the legislative session on April 27, the future of a key mobility option for many Puget Sound residents is fully up in the air.

State financial support enables supplemental service on both the King County Water Taxi’s Vashon Island route and Kitsap Transit’s Bremerton fast ferry, a direct response to reduced Washington State Ferries (WSF) service in those areas. While the transportation budget approved by the House early this month includes funding to continue that supplemental service, the state Senate’s budget does not.

Without those dollars, four daily round trips every weekday between Vashon Island and Downtown Seattle would likely be cancelled, along with seven weekday round trips between Bremerton and Downtown Seattle — and all Bremerton fast ferry trips on Saturdays outside of the peak summer season.

The justification behind the Senate’s move is the planned restoration of pre-pandemic ferry service across the state’s domestic routes by this summer. Those service increases will return a third boat to the Vashon-Fauntleroy-Southworth route and a second boat to the Seattle-Bremerton route. Governor Bob Ferguson announced the move earlier this year, to be accomplished by postponing planned electrification work on the state ferry fleet that would have reduced vessel availability. Those car-ladened ferries are significantly slower than passenger fast ferries, however.

The Senate’s transportation budget, which includes a plan to raise $10.2 billion in new revenue over the next six years, would actually increase costs on transit agencies like King County Metro and Kitsap Transit by forcing them to pay a new vehicle registration fee and to pay for the use of state toll facilities, after being exempted for decades. But the $6.3 million to keep the supplemental passenger ferry service running didn’t make the cut.

“It was always intended to sort of be a stop gap until we got the service back up to the standard,” Senate Transportation Committee Chair Marko Liias (D-21st, Edmonds) said at a press conference in early March. “This budget is really focused on making sure that our mainstay Washington State ferry service is healthy and strong and sustainable, that we’re investing in the crew, that we’re investing in the vessels.”

The Senate budget does include funding to provide additional passenger ferry service for two months during the FIFA Men’s World Cup in 2026, a clear nod to the utility of the service overall, but otherwise the additional trips would sunset later this year.

Not everyone is down with going back to a bare-bones passenger ferry network, as evidenced by the House budget. One of the biggest advocates for retaining that funding is Representative Greg Nance (D-23, Bainbridge Island). Earlier this year Nance introduced the Mosquito Fleet Act, which would have expanded the number of local jurisdictions that are able to create passenger ferry districts in the hope of creating new routes. That bill didn’t make it across the finish line and failed to receive a vote in the Senate transportation committee, even after a state-funded grant program to directly fund service was stripped out.

Nance told The Urbanist that the supplemental service actually proved to be a great proof-of-concept, illustrating the benefit of increased foot ferry service.

“What we learned from that is, in the course of backfilling, people realize, wow, actually it’s faster, it’s more efficient, and I can just take my bike, I don’t even need to drive,” Nance told The Urbanist. “And I think it helped thousands of neighbors see themselves as not just a driver and commuting by car, but actually realizing, hey, I can walk or bus or bike, and that is a powerful, powerful place to be as a transit rider.”

At a hearing on the proposed budget in late March, the Senate’s transportation committee heard from advocates for retaining King County’s additional trips to Vashon Island, which were only funded by the state a year ago after advocacy from local lawmakers including Senator (then Representative) Emily Alvarado (D-34th, West Seattle) and King County Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda. While the state ferry takes riders to Fauntleroy terminal in West Seattle, the additional water taxi trips provide riders with a 22-minute trip directly to Downtown Seattle.

“The King County Water Taxi has made up for some of WSF’s shortcomings. They run on schedule. They are mechanically dependable. They can move a lot of people quickly,” Beth Lindsay, a Vashon resident and a member of the Islanders for Ferry Action steering committee, said. “They keep people out of their cars, and they’re affordable. Islanders use the water taxi to get to medical appointments, to commute to work, for social engagements and to connect to cultural events at a time when we need it most.”

The state-funded supplemental service has been a big driver behind increased ferry ridership. Usage of the Seattle-Bremerton fast ferry in 2024 was up 68% over 2022, and the Vashon Island route saw a 55% increase in the last six months of 2024 after trips were added. Walk-on passengers are voting with their feet, as ridership has plummeted on Washington State Ferries, especially routes with competing fast ferries.

Nance, who is hopeful that his Mosquito Fleet Act can return next year to pave the way for other high-potential routes like Everett-Whidbey Island and Bellingham-Friday Harbor, sees the passenger ferries as the type of fiscally responsible investment that the state is going to need to get behind, not shirk away from. He wants the Senate to restore the funding, but is clearly looking beyond that at the potential ability for passenger ferries to be a broader solution. Local port districts like the Port of Olympia have already expressed interest in working on the issue, but don’t yet have the authority from Olympia.

“It also is demonstrating to us that with much, much lower capital and operational outlay, the state can help people get around,” Nance said. “Here is a place I think is really case-in-point where we can [be] delivering a great service, building strong multimodal connections without the full sticker price, [and] we can actually find a pretty dramatic discount, especially in partnership with local ports, which have junior taxing authority, and many of whom are relatively well capitalized.”

Just a week remains in regular session for the two chambers to sort out their competing transportation budgets, and the eventual outcome will make a big difference for passenger ferry riders.

The post State Budget Cuts Could Slash Puget Sound’s Passenger Ferry Service first appeared on The Urbanist.

Representative Greg Nance’s (D-23rd, Bainbridge) House Bill 1923, which has been dubbed the Mosquito Fleet Act — in reference to the heyday of passenger ferry service on Puget Sound in the late 19th and early 20th century — has seen significant changes since it was introduced in early January. But the core goal remains the same: to make it easier for transit agencies to quickly get passenger ferry service up and running where it’s most needed.

Under the bill, the number of government entities able to establish local passenger ferry districts would dramatically expand, to include port districts, counties, and regional and city transit agencies. If local elected officials choose to create those districts, they unlock specific revenue tools available for that purpose, including a 0.3% sales tax, and a commercial parking tax (outside King County), along with many of the other revenue tools available to transit agencies like fare collection and advertising. In order to start collecting any additional sales tax, voter approval would be required.

Current state law allows only Kitsap Transit to operate a passenger ferry district, with a special arrangement in place that allows for the operation of King County’s passenger ferry fleet. In an amendment adopted on the House floor, only entities that border Puget Sound or Grays Harbor would be able to create new ferry districts, narrowing the original scope of the bill. In its current form, it would still allow passenger ferry districts to pop up everywhere from Olympia to the San Juan Islands and Bellingham.

“We’re entering year six of service disruptions and cancellations for Washington State Ferries, and this has been very, very challenging for affected communities,” Nance said ahead of the bill’s final passage in the House. “This means neighbors missing work, missing school, missing medical appointments. We’re beginning to turn the corner thanks to the hard work of Washington State Ferries crew and personnel and thanks to good leadership and good decisions, but we’ve got to move faster, and we’ve got to unlock every tool that we can.”

The bill’s public hearing in late February brought out supporters of expanding passenger ferry service from up and down Puget Sound, from many communities that have been impacted by service issues at Washington State Ferries, and communities that could benefit from expanded service.

“I support this bill because of the opportunity it presents to address our climate goals and the opportunities it presents to create more multi-modal connections for our transit riders and workers,” Seattle Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck told the committee. Seattle will undoubtedly continue to be a regional passenger ferry hub, and Kitsap Transit is eyeing the long-languishing Pier 48, to the south of King County’s existing passenger ferry terminal at Pier 50, as a new foot ferry hub in the state’s largest city.

“Many Seattleites and Seattle workers ride our ferries, and maybe more would if they had a route that got them where they needed to go. With potential routes connecting South Seattle, Des Moines and Vashon Island, these passenger only ferries would create vital new transit options, reducing commute times and expanding access to job opportunities throughout our region,” Rinck continued.

Other local elected officials around the region were clearly clamoring to be able to act on the additional authority that HB 1923 would provide them.

“I’m here to encourage you to think of this bill not just as a funding bill, but as a policy framework that can help ports be part of the game,” Port of Olympia Commissioner Jasmine Vasavada said. “Ports are in the business of delivering economic development, and if the intent of the sponsor is to unlock us as jurisdictional partners, we can bring land to the table. We have 66 acres at the Port of Olympia, including a deep-water berth that would be great for a ferry. We can bring financing tools that are within our existing statutory authority and are not fully tapped already. And we can try to recruit electric hydrofoil ferry manufacturers to our industrial lands.”

Friday’s vote came just one day after Governor Bob Ferguson announced he’s directing Washington State Ferries (WSF) to change course on long-planned ferry electrification work, and delaying a plan to pull two boats out of service later this year that were planned for hybrid-electric conversion. The new goal is restoring service to pre-pandemic levels by this year in advance of the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup.

Putting 18 boats on the water means the agency will be able to restore a second boat to the Seattle-Bremerton route and the Port Townsend-Coupeville route, and a third boat to the Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth route. Restoring international service to British Columbia remains further off.

But even as WSF continues to make strides toward restoring service and improving on-time reliability, passenger ferries have proven to be an invaluable supplement, and provide quicker connections for transit riders. A 2021 study completed by the Puget Sound Regional Council identified several top candidates for passenger ferry routes that would save riders a significant amount of time compared to current transit options. Passenger ferries could also provide benefits for the broader community.

“I see a benefit beyond reliability from an emergency response perspective,” Jared Moravec, chief of the Bainbridge Island Fire Department, told the House transportation committee. “An increase in the number of passenger ferry vessels can provide additional means of transportation for moving essential emergency workers, as well as food, medical and other disaster supplies to communities that could otherwise be isolated and without other good options for relief. Passenger only ferries can also become an option for evacuations due to wildfire and other emergencies.”

Originally HB 1923 would also have established a new state-level passenger ferry grant program to give local governments direct support. That has precedent, with both runs on Kitsap Transit’s fast ferries and new mid-day service between Seattle and Vashon Island funded by the state. But with legislators grappling with significant budget deficits, actually providing funding for such a grant program was always going to prove challenging, and creating that new grant program adds additional costs for the state.

Even without that program, some lawmakers have raised concerns that HB 1923 could create new routes that require ongoing support from the state. Representative Julia Reed (D-36th, Seattle), a vice-chair of the House transportation committee, questioned supporters of the bill about this during the February hearing.

“I’m not questioning that ferry service is essential. My concern is about the viability of the state to fund a longer run of ferry service at multiple locations, given our current restrictions, and given the current way that we subsidize and invest in in county ferries,” Reed said. “Once you start providing a service, as we’ve seen with our regular car ferries, when that service gets pulled back because operations and maintenance can’t be continued, it’s extremely painful and disruptive to folks.”

Without a grant program attached, HB 1923 likely faces calmer seas in the state Senate. But some lawmakers may still be skeptical about creating new programs at a time of budget issues across state and local governments. Backers of HB 1923, however, argue that this is exactly the right time to get creative and put as many options on the table as possible.

“By looking to Washington’s maritime history and heritage, we can re-envision a future that’s more connected, that’s healthier and more prosperous,” Nance said.

The post Washington House Passes Mosquito Fleet Act, Queuing Potential Foot Ferry Expansion first appeared on The Urbanist.

It’s being dubbed the Mosquito Fleet Act, a reference to the armada of individually-managed foot ferries that plied Washington’s waters in the late 19th and early 20th century, serving thousands of individual ports-of-call. The state is looking to add back some of that nimbleness for riders who depend on state ferry service to access their daily needs. Meanwhile, the Washington State Ferries will reach its 75th anniversary next year, but ridership has sagged as reliability and service levels have decreased.

“Folks are frustrated with years of ferry service cuts and cancellations,” Nance said in a release touting the bill. “Getting more passenger-only boats in the water is the fastest way to show our neighbors that the legislature is making progress to fix our ferries.”

Since he was appointed to the legislature in 2023, Nance has become one of the body’s most outspoken members on the issue of improving ferry service, sponsoring a bill last year that would have established a commission looking at the long-term future of the state ferry system.

“Bolstering passenger-only ferry capacity ahead of the FIFA world cup will help to ensure its success and bridge the gap in ferry capacity before the next Washington state ferries procurement cycle puts boats in the water,” the HB 1923 text states. “This will help tourism-dependent small businesses across the state, while honoring our state’s commitment to environmental progress and helping Washingtonians travel and connect without driving.”

While Washington State Ferries touted a 97.6% service reliability rate over fiscal year 2024, the state has been unable to restore pre-pandemic service levels on a number of routes, including Seattle-Bremerton, Port Townsend-Coupeville, and Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth. International service to Sidney, B.C. also remains suspended, and WSF doesn’t expect to be able to restore a second boat to the Seattle-Bremerton route until 2028 at the current pace of new vessel delivery.

With the state currently working on a comprehensive study looking at potential new passenger ferry routes in both Puget Sound and in Lake Washington, HB 1923 would set up virtually any local transit agency bordering Puget Sound to be able to quickly implement those recommendations. The full report is due June 1, and will likely include potential new routes to service the San Juan Islands, where the current on-time performance rate on existing ferries has been below 70% in recent years. Current state law only allows a few transit agencies to operate foot ferries, including Kitsap Transit and King County — with both currently operating routes that the state used to run itself before getting out of the foot ferry business three decades ago.

Whether the state will be able to fund those new routes is another question. The legislature faces significant issues this session when it comes to the transportation budget, as cost escalation threatens long-promised highway projects and gas tax revenues continue to decline, with walking, biking, and transit projects fighting for a seat at the table. Last year, the state did provide funding to add new mid-day trips on the Seattle to Vashon Island water taxi, operated by King County, adding onto state support for the popular Bremerton to Seattle fast ferry, but creating brand new routes will likely require much more state funding.

The initial funding request will be $50 million, set to be administered by Washington’s County Road Administration Board (CRAB). Three types of funding grants are being eyed, including capital grants to acquire boats and build facilities, operating grants to provide service, and feasibility and demand study grants to get new routes off the ground.

There’s almost certainly untapped potential when it comes to new routes around the state, particularly in Puget Sound. A 2021 passenger ferry study completed by the Puget Sound Regional Council whittled down a list of 45 potential routes to seven finalists, with two Lake Washington routes — both Kenmore and Kirkland to the University of Washington — rising to the top of the list in a cost-benefit analysis. But that study also identified potential terminal facilities as a big hurdle that would have to be overcome to expand the region’s passenger ferry network.

When it comes to creating options that are time-competitive compared to existing travel modes, routes like Bellingham-Friday Harbor, Whidbey-Seattle and Shilshole-Seattle showed the greatest promise in that 2021 study. In introducing HB 1923, Nance cited the potential to add routes like Clinton-Everett, Port Orchard-Bremerton, Suquamish-Ballard, as well as the places of obvious need like San Juan-Anacortes. Outside Puget Sound, places like those along the Columbia River could also take advantage of the new law.

With a goal of seeking creative solutions that will make a difference in blunting the impact of the systemic issues impacting the state ferry system, HB 1923 also sets up transit agencies in the broader Puget Sound region to be able to provide even better options than exist today. Ultimately, it could turn a crisis into an opportunity.

The post Lawmaker Seeks to Jumpstart New Passenger Ferry Routes Across Puget Sound first appeared on The Urbanist.

Turnover at state department leadership tends to happen with any gubernatorial transition, including between members of the same political party. However, Millar had expressed a willingness to stick around and his departure brings renewed questions about Ferguson’s transportation priorities, after running a campaign that rarely broached the topic — outside of pledging to boost service on Washington State Ferries.

Widely praised within progressive transportation circles, Millar has been a strong advocate for investments in the state transportation system that prioritize sustainability and safety over catering exclusively to traffic throughput — jargon for fitting more cars on roads and boosting speeds. He has been a persistent voice for elevating the issue of land use in any transportation discussion, citing the need for more housing near jobs and services.

Unlike many DOT heads, Millar has been open with state lawmakers about the folly of trying to solve congestion by adding highway lanes in urban areas. Instead, he has touted the people-moving capabilities of public transit, including pitching a Cascadia high speed rail network.

“If you were to direct us to add a lane in each direction to I-5 between the Oregon border and British Columbia. that would be $110 billion-ish to build and would probably take as long as it would take to build a high-speed rail system between the communities,” Millar told state legislators during a 2019 briefing. “And it would add a lane of travel in each direction and would probably be full of traffic by the time we got finished building it. And it would still take you all day to get from Portland to Vancouver, B.C. With the investment in ultra high-speed rail, we’re talking about an hour to Vancouver or maybe an hour and a half down to Portland, and that would be a gamechanger.”

From his seat on the Sound Transit Board of Directors, where the WSDOT secretary has a permanent seat, Millar has advocated for the agency to explore utilizing existing highway lanes for its bus rapid transit (BRT) system and pushed for reforms of the agency’s parking policy and focus on costly parking garages. He also been a voice asking for additional analysis around creating a true regional transit hub in Chinatown-International District (CID) as part of Ballard Link — after the board voted to change its preferred alignment to skip that CID hub station.

Millar’s eight years serving as Jay Inslee’s transportation secretary have been incredibly consequential. After being hired as deputy secretary in 2015, he took the reins at WSDOT a year later following a tumultuous period under the prior secretary, Lynn Peterson. With a controversial tolling program being implemented on I-405 on the Eastside, and the infamous tunnel-boring machine digging a tunnel under Downtown Seattle became stuck for over three years, Peterson’s tenure was marked by controversy, and she was ultimately removed from her post by Senate Republicans in a rare move that many saw as retaliatory and political.

It fell to Millar to wrap up Seattle’s tunnel project and implement much of the highway-laden 2015 Connecting Washington transportation package.

Though it all, Millar has tried to steer the massive ship that is WSDOT away from its well-established roots as primarily a highway-building agency and into a multimodal transportation department.

In a conversation with The Urbanist earlier this year, Millar described some of the behind-the-scenes reforms that have been moving forward under his watch, institutional reforms at an agency that is primarily tasked with implementing the projects that the state legislature tells it to. One major change was the creation of a new Urban Mobility and Access program in 2017. Now under its second head in assistant secretary Julie Meredith, the new office represented a substantial change in how WSDOT coordinated its own projects, as a one-stop shop for the multiple massive highway projects that the department has been juggling in central Puget Sound and elsewhere.

“The megaprojects used to be individual fiefdoms that were created by the legislature and the program managers all reported to the chief engineer, and they did their projects all by themselves,” Millar said. “But when you look at the ones we had: Alaskan Way Viaduct, 520, 405, the [Puget Sound] Gateway, they are now all in the same program under Julie [Meredith]’s leadership, and they are linked to our tolling division, our division that coordinates with Sound Transit, Community Transit and King County Metro, and we have a group called management of mobility that’s looking at: how can we do this better?”

Another major internal change Millar has overseen has been the creation of a department of Multimodal Development and Delivery.

“What we did is, we took the divisions and the modes and we put them together so the people who are doing planning and design and construction and operations and maintenance and safety are in the same room with the people who are doing active transportation and public transportation and aviation and rail freight ports. So it’s not just a highway focus — that mix is resulting in a changing dynamic in the organization,” Millar said. “If you look at what we’re doing with the [Cascadia] high speed rail project: We’re doing the high speed rail project in conjunction with and integrated with our analysis of the future of the I-5 corridor.”

And then there’s the Active Transportation division, the only high level department devoted to pedestrian and bike programs at the state level in the entire country. Stood up in 2017 with former Washington Bikes executive director Barb Chamberlain as its head, the department produced an award-winning Active Transportation Plan, a roadmap for improving walking and biking facilities across the state. In 2022, when the Move Ahead Washington transportation package included a mandate for a Complete Streets assessment on virtually every new highway project entering the pipeline, the department was well-positioned to be able to create standards that are changing the game when it comes to what a multimodal state highway project looks like.

“When you go to most meetings of people in active transportation [they have] a coordinator somewhere down in the bowels of their public transportation group,” Millar said. “Barb has authority. Barb has responsibility for the complete streets program. Barb has a budget and a staff to get stuff done, and we are affecting change.”

Millar has also become a national leader on the issue of traffic safety. As president of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), the organization held its first ever safety summit in 2023. With the US Department of Transportation under Pete Buttigieg pushing states to adopt a Safe Systems approach to reducing traffic fatalities and serious injuries on their roadways, WSDOT went even further, adding a sixth element to its Safe Systems approach: safer land use. On top of the work to make existing highways safer, he has been vocal about the fact that many of the issues that the transportation system faces are downstream from how communities are designed in the first place.

“Our land use patterns are the single biggest problem that we have in terms of transportation safety,” Millar told his colleagues at the Washington Traffic Safety Commission earlier this year. “The fact that people are compelled to get into a car and drive, or compelled to get into a car and be a passenger, or compelled to walk along a facility full of cars.”

With the issue of transportation mostly a footnote in this year’s gubernatorial campaign, advocates are watching closely for signals spelling out what direction Bob Ferguson will want to take WSDOT. Ferguson’s 53-person transition team includes a small army of elected officials from around the state, but few people with specific transportation experience.

When WSDOT did come up on the campaign trail, it was usually the issue of Washington State Ferries (WSF). Responding to service cuts and an aging fleet, both Ferguson and his Republican opponent Dave Reichert had expressed an openness to look at new diesel ferries instead of the current plan of converting the fleet to hybrid electric.

While that fight would most likely play out between the incoming Governor and the state legislature, it will fall to Steve Nevey, Millar’s pick for WSF head, to navigate those issues. The first ferries chief in years with a lifetime background in the maritime industry, Nevey’s ouster appears less likely. In fact, Ferguson vowed to elevate the ferries chief to a cabinet position, given his campaign pledge to right the ship at WSF and boost ferry service.

“I am going to make the person who runs our ferry system sit in my cabinet level meetings, they will be a part of my cabinet and they will report directly to me,” Ferguson told Fox 13 News.

Millar’s last day is set to be January 15, with deputy secretary Mike Gribner poised to take over until Ferguson’s search process concludes.

“Leading this agency has been a true highlight of my life personally and professionally,” he wrote in an email to staff following last week’s announcement. “Because of you WSDOT is one of the most innovative, effective and consequential departments of transportation in the world.”

The post Roger Millar’s Departure Leaves Big Shoes to Fill at WSDOT first appeared on The Urbanist.

Drive-on ridership has recovered well, from 16.8 million riders in 2019 to 14.6 million in 2023, a 87% recovery rate. But the number of people walking or riding onto the big boats fell from 6.9 million to 3.9 million since the pandemic, a recovery rate of just 56%. In 2023, WSF served 3 million fewer walk- and bike-on riders than in 2019. Where did all the riders go?

In an effort to understand where walk-ons have gone, I evaluated four hypotheses. Using publicly available data from Washington State Ferries, Kitsap Transit and King County Metro, I compared full year ridership from 2023 against 2019 ridership, the last year before the pandemic.

1. Fast Ferries from Kitsap Transit and Metro are outcompeting WSF for riders.
2. Work-from-home reduces the number of commuter trips.
3. Reduced and unreliable ferry service lowers ridership.
4. Travelers choose to ‘drive around’ through Tacoma.

I found support for each of these four factors, suggesting it’s the confluence of these headwinds that is creating such a drag on walk-on ridership at WSF. Read to the end for some possible solutions to right the ship.

Why walk-ons matter

Walk-on ferry passengers provide a plethora of benefits and fewer drawbacks than drive-on passengers. Because WSF boats have virtually unlimited space for walk-on passengers, unlike for cars, the boats never sell out. Walk-ons don’t cause traffic problems when the boats disgorge hundreds of cars, as on Seattle’s waterfront, Kingston, Port Townsend and Bainbridge. Walk-ons support local transit agencies by transferring to buses and trains. And walk-ons are more likely to support businesses near the ferry terminals.

What happened to all the ferry walk-on passengers?

Nationwide, transit agencies saw ridership tumble during the pandemic. But WSF ridership has recovered faster than most. In 2023, WSF ridership has returned to 78% of pre-pandemic (2019) ridership, which is better than almost all other Washington transit agencies. The overperformers all saw significant infrastructure expansions, like Kitsap Transit Fast Ferry additional ferry routes and Link’s additional light rail stations.

While WSF walk-on ridership is down across the board, Bremerton has been particularly badly hit, with walk-on ridership just 28% of 2019 levels. What explains that disparity?

Hypothesis #1 – New fast ferries are poaching riders from WSF

Hypothesis: Riders are choosing zippy, passenger-only ‘fast ferries’ over slower car ferries.

Fast ferry systems – both from Kitsap Transit and King County Metro – have boomed. In 2023, Kitsap’s fast ferries carried 1.1 million riders, 770,000 between Seattle and Bremerton, 106,000 from Kingston, and 146,000 to Southworth – all huge increases over 2019. Metro’s Water Taxi carried 85,000 on the Vashon line and 314,000 on the West Seattle line. 

Those combined 1.5 million passengers are equivalent to 50% of the ‘missing’ WSF walk-ons. The Bremerton fast ferry route carries the equivalent of 71% of the 1 million passengers missing from the WSF Bremerton route. In Southworth, the fast ferry now carries more passengers than WSF di before the pandemic

Verdict: The new Fast Ferry systems from Kitsap Transit and King Co Metro are strong competition for the WSF walk-on passengers, sapping WSF ridership.

Hypothesis #2: Work-from-home has killed the commute

Hypothesis: Fewer employers demand rigid five-day, in-office work weeks, meaning fewer commuters riding WSF.

As workers in Greater Seattle are more likely to work from home than the US overall, there’s strong support for this hypothesis. Ranking walk-on ridership of the 9 WSF routes, 4 of the 5 worst recovery rates are on routes that begin or end in Seattle. Bremerton, Southworth, Bainbridge, (Mukilteo), and Vashon. Walk-on ridership is ideal for downtown workers, so reduced in-office attendance reduces WSF ridership. Conversely, ferries to vacation destinations, like the San Juans are much less affected.

Additional support from this hypothesis comes from the days people travel, as weekday (Mon-Thurs) ridership declines relative weekend ridership (Fri-Sun). In 2019, most (57%) of walk-on ridership took place on Mon-Thurs. By 2023, only 49% of walk-on riders boarded on a weekday. For drive-on passengers, in contrast, the weekday/weekend ridership ratio is unchanged 2019 and 2023, suggesting drive-on riders are less likely to be working downtown Seattle.

Verdict: Although it’s tough to quantify with available data, the work-from-home trend has definitely harmed WSF walk-on ridership.

Hypothesis #3: WSF’s canceled ferries reduce ridership

Hypothesis: WSF’s ailing ferry fleet and crew shortages reduce walk-on ridership.

And there’s strong evidence to support this hypothesis. The two routes with the lowest walk-on recovery – Bremerton (28%) and Southworth (35%) – spent all of 2023 with reduced service (one boat less than normal). And when an emergency forces one-boat service on a certain route, ridership drops by 37% until the second boat returns. 

Verdict: WSF is unlikely to regain full walk-on ridership before the service is back to full strength. 

Hypothesis #4 – Would-be WSF riders are ‘driving around’

Hypothesis: Many would-be WSF walk-on riders are choosing to drive, depending on the distance.

There’s some evidence to back this up. With the completion of the $1.4 billion I-5/SR16 megaproject the ‘drive around’ and cheaper since the Tacoma Narrows bridge toll was reduced by $0.75 per round trip. 

There’s a moderate correlation (R=0.562, r-value measures linear correlation, with R=1 a perfect correlation and R=0 no correlation) between driving distance and low walk-on ridership recovery. Bremerton and Southworth, which have the shortest drives of 65 miles one-way, saw the lowest walk-on recovery. On routes with a longer drive, Edmonds-Kingston is 106 miles one-way, walk-on ridership recovered more. Driving from Island routes (Vashon, San Juans) is impossible, and these routes saw even better recovery, as there’s no other option. 

But weirdly, the correlation between driving distance and WSF drive-on ridership recovery is weaker, R-value = 0.289. It seems unlikely that walk-on passengers would be more likely than drive-on to switch to driving. 

The $0.75 reduction to Tacoma Narrows Bridge toll likely had little effect on would-be ferry drive-ons, because driving is so costly. If you were a State employee driving your own car, the State would reimburse you at $0.67 per mile, meaning the 130-mile, round-trip between Bremerton and Seattle costs drivers $87. So a $0.75 toll reduction is unlikely to factor much into their transportation choices.

Verdict: The drive-around option became significantly more enticing since the pandemic, especially for relatively close ferry routes with reduced service, like Bremerton and Southworth. But the data does not support the Tacoma Narrows toll reduction as a primary contributor to walk-on passenger reductions.

Bremerton: All hypotheses exacerbated

Bremerton stands out for its extremely low ridership recovery. Ridership on the Bremerton to Seattle route is just 28% of walk-ons and 39% for drivers – the lowest recovery rates in the entire system. Before the pandemic, Bremerton accounted for about 23% of all WSF walk-on passengers. In 2023, it was just 11%. 

Bremerton exemplifies all the trends above. Bremerton has always had the highest walk-on to drive-on ratio, so trends that affect walk-on we’re bound to affect Bremerton-Seattle more than other routes. And all the hypotheses discussed above affect Bremerton particularly strongly. The drive from Bremerton to Seattle (65 miles) is the second shortest ‘drive around’ of any terminal-to-terminal drive (Southworth to Fauntleroy is 62 miles). Bremerton has, by far, the most robust walk-on passenger system in the Puget Sound, and many more Brem-Sea fast ferry trips than in 2019. Both Bremerton Fast Ferry and WSF take passengers right downtown Seattle, so reduction in downtown office commuting hits ridership hard.

Worst of all, Bremerton has suffered the worst service reduction in the entire WSF system. For over two years, Bremerton has been served by just one boat, the so-called ‘Alternate Service.’ Only nine round-trips per day connect Bremerton with The Emerald City. Naturally ridership is down, as are residents relying on the service. Bremerton is known to carry a chip on its shoulder, and certainly feels singled out by WSF for extraordinary service reductions. 

WSF may face a challenge to win back Bremerton riders, even in the distant future when a full, two-boat service returns. And WSF should care about winning Bremerton back. In 2019, Bremerton had, by far, the highest proportion of walk-on to drive-on passengers, contributing less to car-clogged streets and contributing more to Downtown Seattle’s recovery. It’s hard to imagine WSF being ‘fully back’ without reliable service to the heart of Kitsap County. 

Can WSF win back walk-on ferry passengers?

WSF will reinforce its aging fleet over the next 15 years, restoring full service to beleaguered West Sound outposts… eventually. Until then, America’s largest ferry service will struggle to compete with faster, less expensive, passenger-only ferries. WSF could improve the ferry experience by responding to customer requests for on-board wi-fi, covered areas for cyclists waiting to board, improved coordination with ferry-to-bus connections and even cheap upgrades like coat racks.

It’s not clear that WSF is incentivized to care about this loss of walk-on passengers. In 2023, only 21% of WSF passengers biked or walked onto the ferry, down from 29% in 2019. And financial incentives encourage WSF to favor drivers because vehicles pay 4.5 times more for a round trip ($44.50) than walk/bike-on passengers ($9.85). WSF considers itself part of the state highway system; the ferry routes are literally state highways. That seems to show up in which riders it prioritizes as well.

All this provides disincentive for WSF to build amenities that could lure walk-ons back. For instance, ferries lack Wi-Fi, and many terminals, including Seattle’s new $489 million Colman Dock, lack sun/rain protection for cyclists.

But WSF should want its walk/bike-on ridership back because they use vastly fewer resources, don’t clog traffic, and support businesses in ferry neighborhoods. Besides, WSF is a proud service, largest in the nation, with roots back to the Mosquito Fleet of yesteryear. And only WSF runs late at night and on Sundays. Bremerton and other West Sound cities badly need WSF to get healthy and thriving. To compete in this new era, WSF will have to do more than just bring full service back. They need to up their game, and I hope they do.

The post Where Have All the Washington State Ferries Walk-on Passengers Gone? first appeared on The Urbanist.