Washington State Ferries delays restoration of Bremerton ferry service past summer

Washington State Ferries has pushed back the timeline for fully restoring pre-pandemic service linking Bremerton and Seattle. The agency now says that it does not anticipate having the staff available to fully restore service in Bremerton until after the end of this year’s summer season.

The agency said in a new service restoration report released on Tuesday that it planned to begin a trial of two-boat Bremerton-Seattle service at the end of September with an estimated restoration in October. The agency did say that in the meantime, it planned to add morning and mid-day trips as crewing and vessel availability allowed and said it would continue to support the added passenger-only ferry service Kitsap Transit launched last year to fill in holes created by WSF’s limited schedule.

The state cut back ferry service on the route in September 2021 and has yet to bring it back. The agency had said it would attempt a trial in the spring of this year.

“The route will remain primarily on one-boat service until the end of the summer,” Washington State Ferries spokesman Ian Sterling said. “There’s a little bit of good news, but it’s a longer ways away than a lot of people would like to see, including us.”

Read more:Bremerton ferry service was cut in half one year ago. Riders are still waiting

The agency considers four of its routes to be fully restored following pandemic-era cuts, as of February: Anacortes-San Juan Islands, Bainbridge Island-Seattle, Mukilteo-Clinton and Kingston-Edmonds.

Next up in the agency’s restoration plans: Southworth-Vashon Island-Fauntleroy. WSF expects to begin a trial of full weekday, three-boat service in early April or once a vessel and crewing is available, with a full weekly schedule operating by fall 2023. While it waits for vessel and crew availability to trial three-boat service, the agency will add some additional mid-day and evening service to fill in gaps in the two-boat schedule, it said.

Bremerton service would be prioritized next.

Then two-boat service won’t return on the Port Townsend-Coupeville route for some time yet. The agency estimated it would begin trialing full service in spring 2024. And it appears international service running from Anacortes to Sidney, British Columbia, won’t return for several years until “at least” spring 2030 because of a lack of vessels, specifically one certified to sail internationally, the agency said, noting that it would continue to explore opportunities to bring back service sooner than that.

As of Jan. 31, the agency had 1,046 of its target of 1,148 vessel staff, the report said, noting that the agency had a net gain of 61 new fleet employees in 2022.

In addition to staffing levels, the new report also highlights a pair of issues state officials will grapple with when considering the ferry system in the coming years: vessel availability and funding.

Vessel availability is set to become a “major” constraint in the coming years, the agency said. The agency points to a gap in new ferry construction between 2000 and 2010 and notes that the state is left with an aging fleet, with roughly half of its 21 vessels over 40 years old, including five over 50. The state’s next new ferry, Wishkah, isn’t set to be completed until 2027.

“WSF will not be able to add to the fleet quickly enough to address the loss of vessels due to recent and planned retirements,” the agency said.

Related:Kitsap Transit adding Bremerton fast ferry sailings to fill in WSF schedule gaps

The state’s long-range plan calls for three vessels – 64-year-old Tillikum, 56-year-old Kaleetan and 56-year-old Yakima – to be retired before 2027, and if funding isn’t designated to keep them sailing until the late 2020s, service reductions would be necessary because of the smaller size of the fleet, the report noted.

“It is simply not possible to operate the full schedule with less than 21 vessels,” the report noted. “If WSF is funded to keep the Tillikum, Kaleetan, and Yakima, the vessels will have to be removed from service for the maintenance and preservation work necessary to extend their lives through the end of the decade. This will, of course, temporarily reduce the number of vessels available for service.”

WSF currently only has one vessel, Chelan, that is certified to make the international trip, and the agency said it has prioritized domestic service, though it noted that officials considered providing service during only the summer season or leasing a vessel.

WSF also noted that the loss of ridership and other business such as advertising and galley service because of the pandemic has cut into revenues. For years, the agency’s farebox recovery rate (the percentage of operating costs covered by fares and miscellaneous revenue) has typically sat at around 75% but is now at about 60%.

The revenue gap is currently being filled with federal COVID-19 relief funds, the agency said: “So, for now, the federal relief funding is providing a stop-gap, however, this funding source is not sustainable beyond the next biennium.”

This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: Washington State Ferries delays Bremerton ferry restoration