WSF Weekly Report | WSF welcomes Sec. Buttigieg; busiest day in 3 years

||| FROM PATTY RUBSTELLO for WASHINGTON STATE FERRIES |||

U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg visits WSF 

I had the honor and pleasure of meeting U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg last week. He was in Washington state for two days to highlight investments from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

I presented Secretary Buttigieg with a WSF On the Spot coin, which recognizes acts of exceptional service, achievement or special recognition of a job well done.

One of those investments is a $4.9 million Federal Transit Administration grant to construct an electric charging station at our Clinton terminal that will power two future hybrid-electric ferries. WSDOT Secretary Roger Millar, Deputy Assistant Secretary Nicole McIntosh and I hosted Secretary Buttigieg, Gov. Jay Inslee, Sen. Patty Murray, Rep. Rick Larsen and several state, local and tribal leaders on the other side of the route at our Mukilteo terminal. We discussed how federal money helps improve our operations and infrastructure. Some of us then accompanied the secretary on a tour of our ferry Spokane while he was travelling from Edmonds to Kingston. Thanks for your support!

Gov. Inslee declared Deputy Assistant Secretary Nicole McIntosh as Washingtonian for the day during a sailing from Edmonds to Kingston aboard Spokane.

Our busiest day since summer 2019

July and August are typically our busiest months. This year’s peak travel season kicked off with 88,192 riders on Saturday, July 1 – our highest in a single day since summer 2019! For the week of July 2-8, we had nearly 500,000 customers. For comparison, ridership averages close to 250,000 during our slowest winter weeks. With more sunny, warm weather and big events ahead, we expect to remain very busy through Labor Day!

Service restoration update

When crewing and vessel availability allow, we are now putting a third boat into service on our Fauntleroy/Vashon/Southworth run. During a recent public meeting, route users voted overwhelmingly in favor of adding this unscheduled ferry, which will do “clean-up” sailings around the current two-boat schedule to help move traffic. We now expect to trial pre-pandemic three-boat weekday service on our “Triangle” run early next year.

We recently welcomed 13 new terminal employees into our workforce. They completed training in mid-June and are now working across our system.

Meanwhile, our latest Service Restoration Plan (PDF 794KB) Progress Report (PDF 453KB) shows that we remain above our 95% reliability threshold for our restored routes. Just like prior to the pandemic, there are still some sailing cancellations due to crewing or vessel repairs. Our mobile app is a great source of information when travelling with us. It has the latest service updates, schedules, terminal cameras, real-time map to track our ferries and much more, along with highway information!

New safety systems director

Another one of our own has joined our executive team. Company Security Officer George “Curt” Hattell started as director of safety systems last month. He has held this role on an interim basis since the spring, proving himself through several incidents, including the response to the Walla Walla grounding. Curt will continue to oversee our risk management, safety management system and document control, training and credentialing, as well as security. Congratulations Curt!

Sustainability Action Plan update

We recently completed our Sustainability Action Plan (PDF 1.6MB) for 2023-2025 as we work to make our ferry system the most sustainable in the world. The updated document includes improvements to our focus areas and goals based on lessons learned from our 2021-2023 Plan. That’s the first time we laid out objectives and key results. Our first Plan in 2019-2021 set a baseline for implementing recommendations, goals and actions laid out in our 2040 Long Range Plan. Congratulations and thank you to Chief Sustainability Officer Kevin Bartoy, his team and everyone at WSF for their environmental stewardship efforts!

New beach opens next to Seattle’s Colman Dock

There’s a new place to enjoy the Seattle waterfront and watch our ferries set sail! On July 1, Pioneer Square Habitat Beach opened between Colman Dock and Pier 48. We worked with the Seattle Office of the Waterfront and Civic Projects to improve the marine habitat at the site while we build a new terminal just to the north. The beach will temporarily close in the fall for the installation of indigenous artwork and historical information as part of our coordination with local tribes.