Kitsap Transit’s fast ferry between Bremerton and Downtown Seattle will cease operating on Saturdays through the winter months starting this fall, after a pullback in state funding. Riders who had come to rely on a 30-minute trip to and from Bremerton will need to shift their trips to the 60-minute car ferry, which expanded its schedule in June when Washington State Ferries (WSF) restored a second boat to the route.
Thanks to $2.9 million in state funding that was confirmed this week, seven extra weekday round trips to and from Bremerton will be maintained through at least next August, keeping existing weekday service levels consistent through the off-season. But the Saturday service cuts represent an initial step away from supplemental runs that started in 2022 thanks to state support. Initially intended to fill gaps in WSF service in the wake of a 50% service cut in fall of 2021, the extra trips came to be depended on as an improvement over the previous service, saving a full hour for someone making a weekend round trip to or from Bremerton without a car.
The agency will continue to maintain Saturday fast ferry service to Bremerton from May through September, alongside seasonal service to Kingston and Southworth.
While the state transportation budget was finalized in late April and signed by Governor Bob Ferguson in mid-May, the near-term future state of fast ferry service remained unclear until this week. That two-year budget included a $4 million allocation that was left to WSF to divvy up between Kitsap Transit and King County. King County, which was also provided additional state funding in 2024 to expand weekday water taxi trips to Vashon Island, has already announced that it will maintain those trips through at least 2027, providing Vashon residents with quicker access to Downtown Seattle.
Kitsap Transit framed the elimination of off-season Saturday service as the natural conclusion for the supplemental service, even as state lawmakers including Representative Greg Nance (D-23rd District, Bainbridge Island) have pushed for full funding to be maintained to provide a full range of mobility options in ferry-dependent communities.
“We’re glad to see Washington State Ferries has been able to restore two-boat service on the Bremerton-Seattle route,” John Clauson, Kitsap Transit’s Executive Director, said in a release. “We’re proud of how our fast-ferry crews stepped up to support our communities during these years when WSF worked to restore full service.”
The state ferry system remains in a precarious state. Even though WSF was able to restore service to pre-pandemic levels this summer, it remains without a spare relief vessel. “With only 21 vessels and an aging fleet requiring additional maintenance, WSF does not always have a standby vessel for emergency relief. Even when one is available, unscheduled repairs can quickly consume this extra capacity, and there will be periods when WSF will lack enough vessels to operate even the ‘baseline’ level of service,” the agency wrote in a service contingency plan released this spring.
Additionally, the service plan enacted this summer also reduces the availability of crew members to fill in when there are staffing shortages, which increases the risk of cancellations due to staffing even when there are vessels available.
But the state legislature remains laser-focused on Washington State Ferries, after a brief period of relying on other options to improve mobility for Puget Sound residents. If expanded passenger ferry service is on the horizon, it will likely be thanks to local governments and transit agencies, but the ability to stand up new passenger ferry districts remains limited by the same legislature. The Mosquito Fleet Act, introduced earlier this year, would have changed that, but concerns over costs stymied its advance during a tough budget year.
For now, the slow ramp down of additional passenger ferry service seems poised to continue.
Ryan Packer has been writing for The Urbanist since 2015, and currently reports full-time as Contributing Editor. Their beats are transportation, land use, public space, traffic safety, and obscure community meetings. Packer has also reported for other regional outlets including BikePortland, Seattle Met, and PubliCola. They live in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle.