This week’s Washington State ferry report

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

Seattle/Bainbridge route to begin trial service stage of restoration process Tuesday, March 22

Chief of Staff Nicole McIntosh shared our COVID-19 Service Restoration Plan here last week. The document outlines steps to restore service to pre-pandemic levels on a route-by-route basis. This week, I’m highlighting our Service Restoration Plan Progress Report, which provides an update on where we are in our restoration efforts based on staffing. Our latest report shows we’re ready to move to the trial service stage (Stage 3) on our Seattle/Bainbridge run starting Tuesday, March 22. Most of our other routes remain in the alternate service stage (Stage 2).

Four new oilers entered our workforce this week. Last week, they completed firefighting training, which is required for all our vessel crews.

As outlined in the plan, when we can provide reliable two-boat service 95% of the time for three weeks during a trial service stage, the restoration is permanent and the route will move to the restored service stage (Stage 4). We’ll then shift our focus to restoring service on the next run in the plan’s prioritization list, which in this case is Mukilteo/Clinton. I know our alternate service schedules have been challenging and frustrating for many of our riders and everyone here at WSF is looking forward to providing you with more positive updates like this during our service restoration efforts.

Fauntleroy terminal project advisory group meetings

We met with our Fauntleroy terminal project Community Advisory Group (CAG) last night to discuss potential alternatives for replacing the terminal. The CAG is one of three advisory groups providing us with input, along with the community, to help inform decisions and shape the project. The public is invited to attend all advisory group meetings. Our next meeting is with the Technical Advisory Group at 1 p.m. Thursday, March 24. Advanced registration is required. Project-related questions and comments are always welcome via email. Materials from previous meetings are available in the community engagement section of the project website.

The three Fauntleroy terminal project advisory groups are advising us on how to replace the aging, seismically vulnerable terminal.

Annual vessels and terminals report in latest WSDOT Gray Notebook

WSF is one of the main features in the 84th edition of WSDOT’s Gray Notebook, an agency tool that provides quarterly performance information for all divisions across WSDOT. The latest issue also includes an annual report on our vessels and terminals, which highlights our need to focus on preservation in years ahead.

A few notable results from the Ferries’ section include:

• Vessel preservation backlog increased by $17.7 million from fiscal year 2020 to fiscal year 2021.
• Just 57% of our fleet (12 of 21 vessels) is in a state of good repair at the end of fiscal year 2021.
• 93.7% of terminal assets were in state of good repair at the end of fiscal year 2021.

Virtual maritime career fair Thursday, March 31

Interested in working in maritime? I encourage you to join the San Juan County Economic Development Council’s (EDC) virtual Maritime Career Fair at noon Thursday, March 31! Some of our employees will be presenting, along with representatives from the whale watch and boat insurance industries, as well as Puget Sound Pilots.

Washington State Ferries March Madness

Which one of our ferries is your favorite? Now through April 4, you can vote on our Twitter page in our March Madness-style WSF Tournament, with vessels seeded by age, oldest to youngest. The last time we did this in 2018, Kaleetan was the big winner.

Next Weekly Update will be Thursday, March 31

There will be no Weekly Update on Thursday, March 24, as Chief of Staff Nicole McIntosh and I will be out in the fleet that day meeting with our employees on the Fauntleroy/Vashon/Southworth route. We’ll catch up the following week on Thursday, March 31!