WSF still has crewing issues, but surprise marriage proposal was a success

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

COVID-19 crew relief requests continue to affect service

We continue to have hundreds of coronavirus-related relief requests among our frontline terminal and vessel employees.

As a reminder, we are operating our alternate service schedules on most routes until further notice. The reduction in service allows us to provide more reliability during the current omicron-fueled surge in COVID-19 cases affecting our workforce, with hundreds of our employees out this month to either quarantine or take care of ill family members. Combined with ongoing staffing shortages, we are only able to realistically support one-boat service on all routes except Fauntleroy/Vashon/Southworth, where a two-boat schedule is in place, and Anacortes/San Juan Islands, where we will try to maintain a normal winter schedule but with no new vehicle reservations.

Should crewing allow, we will put a second boat into service on our Seattle/Bainbridge, Edmonds/Kingston and Mukilteo/Clinton routes for as long as possible. I encourage riders to sign up for our rider alerts to receive updates on what schedule we’re operating on each route.

The pandemic has forced us to operate more fluidly, using a “four pillars” approach to providing service instead of our usual seasonal manner.

Obviously, crewing is our most vulnerable element right now in our “four pillars” approach to providing service. While ridership is rebounding, the vessels pillar is also at risk as we have a small aging fleet that went down from 24 to 21 ferries recently, making it challenging to cover service on all routes when some boats need to be out of service for maintenance and repairs.

Gov. Jay Inslee’s 2022 supplemental budget proposal will help in improving our crewing and vessels situation. As I mentioned last week, I look forward to supporting the governor’s budget plan and answering legislative questions as they work on the transportation budget.

New Mukilteo terminal earns LEED Gold certification

Solar panels, rainwater catchment and enhanced stormwater treatment. These design features and more earned our new Mukilteo terminal LEED Gold certification. LEED, which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is a third-party green building certification program. Earning the certification requires extensive paperwork about the project’s green elements, which our consulting engineers and architect spearheaded. This is all part of our commitment to being “light on the earth” for the project.

Marriage proposal on our Port Townsend/Coupeville route

Joshua Treadway proposes to his girlfriend Sarah Saturday on the sun deck of Salish.

For the past year, Joshua Treadway has been travelling on our Port Townsend/Coupeville route once or twice a week to see his girlfriend Sarah. That’s why he thought that a ferry would be the perfect setting for a surprise marriage proposal. On Saturday, Joshua and a couple of his friends boarded Salish in Port Townsend only to get right back on for the Coupeville departure he knew Sarah would be on. His friends pretended to coincidentally bump into her and asked to take a photo up on the sun deck. That’s where Joshua was waiting to propose. She said yes! Congratulations to Joshua and Sarah!