WSF Weekly Report | WSF community meetings next week; kayak rescue; music aboard Suquamish

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

A message from Steve

As summer winds down and we head into Labor Day weekend, I hope you’ll join me in thanking my colleagues across our system for their commitment to serving our customers, especially over the past few months. This is shaping up to be our busiest summer since 2019 and the effects of the pandemic. From Memorial Day through the final Sunday in August, nearly 7 million people rode our ferries. That’s almost 100,000 more riders than during the same period in 2025. We’ve also had six days this summer with more than 90,000 riders. That includes 99,557 riders on Aug. 8, our busiest day since Aug. 17, 2019. Seeing more people ride with us is a clear sign we’re moving in the right direction and rebuilding confidence in our system. We’re not taking that for granted. We remain focused on recruiting, training and retaining the employees we need to deliver reliable service. At the same time, we’re working to improve on-time performance, and our crews and maintenance teams are keeping our aging fleet sailing safely until new ferries arrive.

The busiest Labor Day weekend sailings will likely be westbound (or onto an island) today through Saturday, Sept. 5, then eastbound (or off island) Saturday, Sept. 5, through Monday, Sept. 7.

Nearly 400,000 people are expected to ride our ferries today through Monday, Sept. 7. The Labor Day weekend travel crowds will mean longer vehicle lines and wait times at our terminals. Before arriving, consider downloading the WSDOT mobile app or visiting our website. You can check live terminal conditions and traffic cameras, read rider alerts for service updates, see where each ferry is in real time, and make vehicle reservations for our Anacortes/San Juan Islands and Port Townsend/Coupeville routes. On Labor Day, Sept. 7, there will be a few sailing adjustments. These holiday changes are marked online on each schedule by route.

Online community meetings Thursday, Sept. 10

Have a question for us? Ask it at one of our two online community meetings on Thursday, Sept. 10. We have two sessions – 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. Prior registration is required to attend via Zoom. Each meeting will start with a short presentation recapping our summer service and an update on our new vessel construction. Most of the time will be dedicated to answering your questions. You can also send questions or comments ahead of time by email. If you can’t attend live, recordings will be posted on our community participation page the day after the meetings.

Both online community meetings will cover the same information.

Cathlamet crew rescues kayaker off Fauntleroy terminal

On Monday, we were reminded once again of the important work my colleagues out in the fleet do every day. Just after 9 a.m., our Cathlamet crew spotted two kayakers in distress near our Fauntleroy terminal. They quickly launched a rescue boat and brought one of the kayakers and their kayak aboard the ferry. Thankfully, they were not hurt and showed no signs of hypothermia. The other kayaker did not need help and paddled safely toward shore. The person rescued walked off the ferry on their own at Fauntleroy. Thank you to all our vessel crews and terminal staff who regularly take part in safety drills and emergency training. These exercises keep us ready to act fast and work together when every second matters.

Monday morning’s rescue involving our Cathlamet crew off Fauntleroy terminal was our fourth lifesaving incident in August.

Whidbey Island musical group honks on Suquamish

The Mutiny Bay Brass Band performed on Suquamish Tuesday evening, playing an energetic show on the sun deck. On a roundtrip sailing between Clinton and Mukilteo, the ensemble played a variety of songs both old and new, including “Sail,” “Jump the Line” and “Shipping Up to Boston.” We thank the 16-person HONK! band for providing our riders with a bit of joy on their weeknight commute.

Riders aboard Suquamish got a special treat Tuesday evening as the Mutiny Bay Brass Band filled the sun deck with live music.

Sailing stats for week of Aug. 24-30

For the week of Aug. 24-30, we completed 98.1% of our 3,148 scheduled sailings. This figure is separate from on-time performance. Of the 65 cancellations, 23 were due to vessel-related issues, 21 for crewing, 10 because of schedule resets (when a boat is so far behind schedule, we cancel a sailing to get it back on schedule, providing predictability for customers), seven due to other miscellaneous reasons and four for weather.

For comparison, during a similar week last year (Aug. 25-31, 2025), we completed 99.2% of our 3,124 scheduled sailings. Of the 27 cancellations that week, 13 were because of crewing, 10 due to schedule resets and four for vessel-related issues.

Customer kudos

“Thank you so much! Our overly independent 8 year old took off on us on our trip from bainbridge back to Seattle. She disappeared for a good 15 mins and we could not find her. When we alerted a crew member (didn’t catch her name, but blonde about 25 on the galley deck of the bainbridge ferry today at 6:25) she got the entire crew searching and locking down the boat till she was found. Thank god nothing happened to her and she just was wandering but I’m so gratefully for how efficient and kind your crew was. Thank you!”

-Seattle/Bainbridge route customer