The Washington State ferry route from Port Townsend to Coupeville has been delayed, again. This is a reminder that we are still recovering from the aftermath of the pandemic and the Washington State …
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The Washington State ferry route from Port Townsend to Coupeville has been delayed, again. This is a reminder that we are still recovering from the aftermath of the pandemic and the Washington State Ferry Systems has been forced to alter course.
According to the washintongpolicy.org website, the ferry system delays and cancellations have been reoccurring due the lack of staffing. These have a trickle-down effect that do not seemingly have any solution.
During the normally busy summer season, the Port Townsend to Coupeville ferry ran only one ferry instead of the usual two due to the lack of staffing.
The ferry systems have been as transparent as allowed. Thursday evening, the Kingston to Edmonds route had announced a cancellation in the evening and then announced they were operating on a limited service for the remainder of the evening. The back-and-forth changes are frustrating commuters as they air their grievances on various social media platforms to just try to figure out what ferry is operating, and which ones are not.
Locals in Port Townsend seem to have lost faith in the ferry system and the consistent question of how the ferries are operating has become a hot topic of conversation all through town. Anyone who has been paying attention for just the two years has heard about the lack of staffing, the exit of prospective retiree's vs new hires, the lack of funding.
The Washington State Department of Transportation introduced an overview of what their long-term game plan is and laid out a four-stage plan to help improve current issues. Stage One is involves route prioritization, with the Port Townsend/Coupeville route being on that list due to overall ridership numbers.
Stage Two is about using alternative services, such as reducing schedules for the WSF based on the availability of crew and vessel resources. Stage Three is explained as by trial service, which is based on the ability to see a consistent 95% reliability rate. Stage Four is about route restoration, where the ideal outcome would be for ridership, crews, and vessels to maintain reliability targets.
