9:07 AM: Washington State Ferries says “unscheduled necessary vessel maintenance” has the Fauntleroy/Vashon/Southworth route down to one boat until further notice, following the #2 schedule. The real-time map shows the boat having trouble is M/V Kitsap, which had problems last week too. Updates to come.
11:59 AM: WSF is moving M/V Suquamish from the Bainbridge-Seattle run so that two-boat service can resume on the Triangle Route.
What do you want? WSF are dealing with an aging fleet. They can’t just order a new one & presto it’s here. Everything takes time & money & enough employees.
Yea agreed, it’s a difficult situation to be in. Maybe WSF can move this unreliable boat to one of the other 2 boat routes and replace it with the more reliable boat on the triangle route. Seems like it would help them have less downtime when the vessel inevitably goes down for repairs occasionally.
How long is this anticipated to last? I have to use the BI ferry on thurs afternoon, are we talking more than a couple days?
I wonder how much the state spends yearly on ferry service to an island with 11,000 people?
The ferry route also serves Kitsap county, population 275,000 and growing. I’m a Seattle resident and use the ferry to get to Kitsap county. Seattle population is 733,000 and growing.
David. 11,000 is a LOT more than any of the San Juan Islands. The most populated, San Juan Island has a summer population of @9,500. But the winter population is @ 5,500(lots of snowbirds and people with 2 homes). Are you asking about those costs? If not, why?
Time to build a bridge from Vashon to Port Orchard. Ferry should go to downtown, not Fauntleroy where locals have to put up with the traffic and generally poor Vashon drivers who don’t seem to have any sense of respect for the community.
The problem is incompetent management. Until 1997 or so, WSF was operating reliably, boats built in 1927 on San Francisco Bay. They were finally retired after annual inspections detected leaks through the hulls. Nisqually, Klickitat, Illinois, Quinault.
“Incompetent management” would be the legislature. The ferry system has been starved for funds for decades and now we have no modern, reliable ferries nor adequate crewing.
Those were some cool boats back then too. Lots of brass. At least two of them had continuous outdoor decks that you could walk the entire circumference of the boat outside. Like walking laps. I see ppl walking laps on the inside of the passenger levels now.
Sorry, comment time is over.
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