Use passenger boats to ease WA ferry crisis

The sorry shape of the Washington State Ferries fleet increasingly leaves riders stranded. The crisis belongs to those state officials who responded, for more than a decade, with little more than feckless shrugs — all while the system deteriorated.

Amid plummeting public confidence in these marine highways, some ferry communities are taking matters into their own hands. State leaders should help where they can.

Tom Bridge, owner of a maritime transport business in the San Juan Islands, frequently pilots people and cargo to remote locations in the archipelago. But in August, the Coast Guard-licensed captain turned a small fishing boat into an on-call water taxi on the routes and stops normally served by the Washington State Ferries.  

“I run every day they don’t run,” said Bridge, who has ferried cancer patients to appointments, brought home stranded students, and more. “We’re just really concerned about getting our everyday citizens to the essential things they need to do in their lives.”

Bridge and a group of concerned residents formed the Community Water Taxi as an increasingly erratic ferry schedule gave way to a spate of cancellations during the San Juan County Fair this summer. While Gov. Jay Inslee and the Legislature have funded new, double-ended car-carrying vessels to relieve a debilitated system, the soonest they’ll run is 2028. In letters to the state, they wonder: What are ferry-dependent communities are to do until then?  

“Our need … requires stopgap solutions until more long-term remedies are actualized,” they wrote to lawmakers in requesting funding to subsidize their emergency water taxi.  

That a boat hauling a handful of people is helpful speaks to the severity of the situation. Might other, larger passenger vessels help WSF pick up the slack for the next half-decade?

Tucked into the governor’s supplemental budget is about $2.2 million to evaluate the state providing passenger-only service, with its focus first on the San Juans. An additional $5 million could fund recommendations on a report due in 2025.

But that level of investment and timeline for completion lacks necessary urgency. Ferries are, by definition, marine highways. When road links are disrupted, lawmakers respond immediately. Take the collapse of Interstate 5 lanes over the Skagit River in May 2013. The governor declared a state of emergency in three counties; a temporary span was installed less than a month later, and a permanent replacement in just four months.    

Demand for a federal interstate might be different from a ferry route. But when the Washington State Department of Transportation yanked four corroding ferries from the Port Townsend to Whidbey Island route in 2007, the state stood up a temporary passenger-only service to Seattle as a way to help merchants through the holidays.

State Sen. Marko Liias, D-Mukilteo, said lawmakers must focus on resuscitating its system of car ferries. But the Senate Transportation chair noted the Legislature could consider financial support for local communities that pursue their own passenger-only ferry routes, particularly those that provide an alternative for weakened WSF service.    

Case in point: Inslee’s budget includes funds to continue bolstering additional service for Kitsap Transit’s Bremerton-Seattle passenger-only ferry. The route is one of three funded by a sales tax increase approved by Kitsap voters in 2016. Residents on Vashon Island, too, want more runs by Kitsap Transit and the King County Water Taxi to help their island as well.

Passenger-only ferries aren’t a panacea for what ails WSF. But with some coordination between local transit agencies to line up boat-to-bus service, it could alleviate the pain of some travelers who can complete their journey without a car. A century ago, the Salish Sea was the scene of hundreds of passenger-transporting vessels known as the Mosquito Fleet.

The ferry system is already headed for changes. Patty Rubstello, WSDOT’s ferries director, announced Friday she will step down when a replacement is aboard. The new leader should have experience in maritime management, a skill his or her predecessors have far too often lacked. Time for a problem solver, a strong steward of this crucial system and a fresh push — to include using passenger boats — to solve this crisis.