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Holiday season ferry travel
A special thank you to our employees working over the holiday season. If you get the chance, please wish them “Happy holidays!”
Anyone traveling with us this holiday season should regularly check our online sailing schedules. Due to an ongoing staff shortage, several routes remain on one-boat service, with a second boat added daily as crewing availability allows. Because of our recent hiring efforts and new crewing agreements with our labor partners, we’ve been able to add service nearly every day over the past month on our central Sound routes and operate a full four-boat fall schedule on our Anacortes/San Juan Islands run, but challenges remain. I encourage riders to sign up for our rider alerts to receive an update each night and morning on what schedule we’re operating on each route.
If boarding a ferry by vehicle, be prepared for long waits. With Christmas and New Year’s Day falling on a Saturday this year, the Thursday and Friday before, and the Sunday following each holiday are expected to be the busiest travel days. On Friday, Dec. 24, and Friday, Dec. 31, there will be a few holiday schedule changes on some routes. The Seattle/Bainbridge and Fauntleroy/Vashon/Southworth runs will operate on a Saturday timetable on both days. Holiday sailings are marked on the schedule page for each route. On Christmas, Dec. 25, and New Year’s Day, Jan. 1, all routes will operate as a typical Saturday.
Vehicle reservations reopen tomorrow, Dec. 17
For our Anacortes/San Juan Islands run, another 30% of available vehicle space will be released two weeks prior to each sailing date and a final 30% two days prior.
Vehicle reservations for our Anacortes/San Juan Islands and Port Townsend/Coupeville runs will reopen at 7 a.m. tomorrow, Dec. 17, for sailings on Jan. 2 through March 26, 2022. New reservations for both routes were suspended Oct. 16 when the San Juan Islands was temporarily downsized from four boats to three. The fourth boat returned Nov. 19 on a trial basis to see if all four boats could be reliably crewed before reopening reservations. Tomorrow’s reservations release will serve as what is normally our two-month release, with 90% of available space opening for our Port Townsend/Coupeville run and 30% for our Anacortes/San Juan Islands route.
While we’re excited to reach this milestone in service restoration, it’s important to note that we still face significant crewing and vessel availability challenges that will result in periodic disruptions. When they occur, we’ll continue the process of prioritizing travel for reservation holders on a first-come, first-served basis.
Video of our electrification efforts
Our new hybrid-electric vessel is just one element of our electrification efforts. Our plan to take the nation’s largest ferry fleet to emission free by the year 2050 is outlined in a video we produced for the American Society of Civil Engineer’s biennial International Conference on Sustainable Infrastructure. Thanks to WSDOT’s Visual Engineering Resource Group (VERG) for helping us put the video together!
WSTC selects Wishkah as name for our first hybrid-electric ferry
Our next new ferry will have the name Wishkah. That’s what the Washington State Transportation Commission (WSTC) chose on Thursday for our first hybrid-electric ferry out of six finalists. Wishkah is the name of a river that runs from the Olympic foothills southward into Grays Harbor at the town of Aberdeen. The WSTC has legal authority for naming state highways, bridges and ferries in Washington.
Happy holidays from the Active Ferry Employees Charitable Trust!
The Active Ferry Employees Charitable Trust (AFECT) was unfortunately unable to host its annual Holiday Cruise for People with Disabilities for a second year in a row because of the COVID-19 pandemic. AFECT’s holiday video message shows what this cruise is all about as it continues to fulfill its mission to provide temporary assistance to fellow WSF employees who are in need due to unforeseen circumstances. Thanks to all our employee volunteers!
Next Weekly Update will be Thursday, Dec. 30
There will be no Weekly Update on Thursday, Dec. 23. I wish you a happy and healthy holiday season. If you’re travelling over the holidays, safe journeys! We’ll catch up just before the new year!
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