(Fauntleroy ferry dock, photographed in this week’s fog by Vlad Oustimovitch)

Washington State Ferries says its ridership continued rebounding last year from the 2020 pandemic low. This week, it released the year-end ridership report for 2021. The accompanying announcement included the overview on some of the trends:

For only the second time since it began operations in 1951, and the second year in a row, WSF carried more vehicles with a driver (8.9 million) than passengers (8.4 million) in 2021, as many continued to work from home or chose to drive on board because of the pandemic.

Current ridership trends

State ferry ridership in 2021 rose to roughly 72% of 2019 pre-COVID-19 numbers, with vehicles climbing to 85% and walk-on customers up to 42% of pre-pandemic levels. Ridership is expected to rebound further when COVID-19 eases and as WSF restores sailings closer to pre-pandemic levels.

“We’re in the process of planning our service restoration efforts as we continue to aggressively recruit, hire and train new employees,” said WSF Assistant Secretary Patty Rubstello. “Pandemic-related vessel crewing challenges and the temporary loss of one of our biggest ferries due to an engine room fire were two major service obstacles for us in 2021.”

2021 route-by-route ridership highlights

The greatest year-to-year increase came on the Seattle/Bainbridge Island route, where total ridership – vehicles and passengers combined – was up 44%. The boost lifts the run back into the top spot as the system’s busiest after dropping behind Mukilteo/Clinton and Edmonds/Kingston in 2020 for the first time in more than 40 years. The Anacortes/San Juan Islands route had the second largest growth at 36% with ridership on those runs reaching 95% of pre-pandemic levels. System highlights include:

Seattle/Bainbridge Island: Biggest year-to-year increase with total riders up 44%, led by a system-high rise in walk-on passengers of 54%; vehicles jumped a system high 32%.
Edmonds/Kingston: Total riders climbed 20%, vehicles grew 14%.
Mukilteo/Clinton: Total riders rose 14%, vehicles increased 11% to remain as busiest route for drivers.
Fauntleroy/Vashon/Southworth: Total riders up 13%, vehicles jumped 9%.
Anacortes/San Juan Islands: Total riders surged 36%, vehicles climbed 23%.
Seattle/Bremerton: Total riders grew 29%, vehicles rose 20%.
Point Defiance/Tahlequah: Total riders increased 18%, vehicles up 13%.
Port Townsend/Coupeville: Total riders jumped 22%, vehicles climbed 14%.
Anacortes/Friday Harbor/Sidney, British Columbia: The international route did not resume service in 2021 due to U.S.-Canada border restrictions and continued crewing and vessel availability challenges.

You can see annual ridership reports dating back to 2002 by going here. For a quick comparison, Fauntleroy-Vashon ridership in 2021, 1.4 million, was down from 1.8 million in 2019, while Fauntleroy-Southworth’s 2021 total, 554,000, was down from 2019’s 976,000.