Just announced by Washington State Ferries, a week after a systemwide vessel shortage put the already-challenged Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth route on a two-boat schedule:

The Fauntleroy/Vashon/Southworth route will return to a three-boat summer schedule starting Friday, Sept. 8.

The service restoration will come following the return of Hyak on the Anacortes/San Juan Islands route at 7:20 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 7, along with a series of boat moves.

Since Aug. 31, Washington State Ferries maintenance crews have been working on the Hyak to replace a broken vessel service generator, which provides electricity to the boat. The work was scheduled to take up to two weeks.

Boat moves

Once Hyak replaces Kitsap on the Anacortes/San Juan Islands route, there will be the following boat moves overnight Thursday, Sept. 7:

· Kitsap moves to Mukilteo/Clinton to replace Kittitas (no capacity change).

· Kittitas moves to Fauntleroy/Vashon/Southworth to restore three-boat service until Monday, Sept. 11, when:

o Sealth replaces Kittitas in order to maintain a three-boat schedule while Kittitas is out for scheduled repairs.

o Chetzemoka replaces Sealth on Point Defiance/Tahlequah, reducing Port Townsend/Coupeville to one-boat service. Even with Hyak back in service, there will be no spare vessels readily available.

The announcement also included this:

WSF will hold two public meetings to discuss recent changes on the Fauntleroy/Vashon/ Southworth route:

· Vashon Island public meeting

o When: 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 20
o Where: Vashon High School cafeteria, 9600 S.W. 204th Street, Vashon

· Southworth public meeting

o When: 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 21
o Where: John Sedgwick Junior High School Commons, 8995 S.E. Sedgwick Rd., Port Orchard

The changes, implemented in June, have been unpopular with many Vashon riders who cite boats leaving with unfilled space, even as long lines of cars remain along streets in Fauntleroy. WSF says that waiting to fill the boats would put them further behind schedule, but even on the 2-boat schedule, it’s had numerous delays (you can scroll through its Twitter feed to see all the alerts). Riders suggest that requiring all vehicles to stop at the tollbooths, ticketed or not, is largely to blame for the bottlenecks.