WSF Weekly Report | Public meetings; summer service; sailing stats

||| FROM STEVE NEVEY for WASHINGTON STATE FERRIES |||

A message from Steve

If I’m being honest, I’ve spent most of my career as a mariner, so the art of public speaking feels a little like learning a second language. My time in the cruise industry taught me the importance of customer engagement and actively connecting with the public is even more crucial at Washington State Ferries as we provide a government-funded service. While I admit, I get nervous at our community meetings, I know they are an excellent way to provide our audience with transparency, which is vital to the trust and success of any government entity.

Public engagement lets us know your needs, concerns and aspirations. It allows our decisions to reflect the diverse perspectives and interests of all the communities we serve. Whether through public meetings, surveys or direct communication, we encourage you to share your thoughts and ideas with us. Your feedback is valued and essential in shaping our policies and services.

Recap of this week’s virtual public meetings

Thanks to everyone who joined us for our virtual public meetings on Monday and Tuesday. We began each with the same presentation on the state of WSF, building new ferries, service recovery, workforce development and a budget update. Most of the time reserved for members of our executive team and I to answer questions from participants. More than 400 people attended the meetings. If you missed them, recordings are available on our community participation webpage.

Members of the WSF Executive Team joined me in answering questions from participants during a Monday’s virtual public meeting.

Preview of summer service

Our meeting presentation included a preview of what to expect this summer as far as service and we also received some questions about this. I know this is an important topic, so I want to share our planned boat moves that will affect vehicle capacity during our peak season (of course things could change for vessel breakdowns):

• Anacortes/San Juan Islands: 144-car Kaleetan replaces 124-car Chelan for a few weeks in July.
• Mukilteo/Clinton: 144-car Suquamish replaces 144-car Tokitae in early July and 124-car Kitsap replaces 90-car Sealth from mid-July through early September.
• Edmonds/Kingston: 188-car Spokane replaces 144-car Kaleetan in mid-July.

Spokane is currently at our Eagle Harbor Maintenance Facility for scheduled engine overhaul work.

Sunday was the start of our summer sailing schedule, which includes added service to help accommodate our increased ridership. On our Fauntleroy/Vashon/Southworth route, we are now operating an unscheduled third ferry weekdays when crewing and a vessel are available. We also added a midday roundtrip sailing between Vashon and Fauntleroy on Fridays. In the San Juan Islands, the daily 6:45 p.m. Anacortes to Lopez Island sailing now goes to Orcas Island as well, except on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. For our Port Townsend/Coupeville run, we’re working on possibly adding a second boat during the Wooden Boat Festival, Sept. 6-8.

Vashon Island community thanks our employees

The Vashon Chamber of Commerce’s Islanders for Ferry Action held a special thank you event last week for our vessel and terminal crews. Community members delivered thank you notes and treats to employees who serve the north and south end of the island. There was also a gathering at our Vashon terminal, where state legislators, community leaders and a few of our managers joined members of the Islanders for Ferry Action to express their gratitude. This was followed by a roundtable meeting focused on improving ferry service for the island. Thank you to all who showed their appreciation to our hardworking frontline staff. We know our service isn’t perfect, but these employees are doing their best to move as many people as possible.

Following the thank you event, there was a roundtable meeting focused on improving Vashon Island ferry service. Photo courtesy Vashon-Maury Island Beachcomber.

Food galley to open on Point Defiance/Tahlequah route 

For the first time ever, we will have onboard food galley service on our Point Defiance/Tahlequah route starting tomorrow, June 21. Our vendor, Sodexo Live!, will operate aboard Chetzemoka from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily. The galley will offer limited hot foods (soups, pretzels, popcorn), pre-made sandwiches, salads and packaged snacks. Ice cream and various cold beverages will also be available, but there will be no beer or wine due to the short duration of the crossing.

Our Point Defiance/Tahlequah route will offer onboard food galley service for the first time ever beginning tomorrow, June 21.

Sailing stats for week of June 10-16

For the week of June 10-16, we completed 97.6% of our 2,797 scheduled sailings. The 66 canceled sailings were due to crewing (47%), a vessel being out of service (9%) and schedule resets (44%), when a boat is so far behind schedule, we cancel a sailing to get it back on schedule, providing predictability for customers.

Customer kudos

“I have enjoyed brief, pleasant exchanges with ticket sales personnel at both the Edmonds and Kingston terminals. Over the years I have grown a nice friendship with a ticket seller on the Kingston side and 2 on the Edmonds side. It truly adds to the experience. I so appreciate having real people processing the ticket sales! Human connection should continue to be considered to be important!”

-Edmonds/Kingston route customer