— from Washington State Ferries —
I’d like to welcome several new crewmembers that will help us provide increased service in the weeks ahead. Because of COVID-19, we were unable to conduct mandatory face-to-face new deck employee training until late June. The first class of nine has graduated and is already working in the fleet. Our next class of seven is scheduled to graduate this weekend and we’ll be training three more classes of 10 over the next two months!
Firefighting is just one of several training a new employee must complete before they can serve as a crewmember on one of our vessels.
Unfortunately, our Edmonds/Kingston and Mukilteo/Clinton routes will remain on one-boat weekend service until we have crewing available to allow us to increase service. As a reminder, crew availability is just one of our COVID Response Service Plan’s four pillars of service that are dictating our current schedules. The others are ridership, vessel availability and funding.
Ten new terminal employees going through our electronic fare system training at our Seattle headquarters. They are set to graduate Friday, Aug. 14.
I came home in the dark last night because the 7:10 – which I specifically inquired about to the ticket agent – left about 8:45. The 7:10 home provides plenty of light for even a person of limited eyesight to navigate.
I don’t like the jeopardy that attaches to either myself or the WSF in such a situation Such lack of communication seems more the rule than the exception these days and only increases the animosity that locals might feel against tourists.
Such difficult times require more – not less – communication between parties.
What does this have to do directly with tourists?