Several Washington State Ferries routes to be restored to near pre-pandemic levels

Washington State Ferries will restore some of its two-boat weekend services starting tomorrow.

The weekend service on the Edmonds/Kingston and Mukilteo/Clinton routes will resume starting on August 22, and two-boat service for both weekdays and weekends will resume for Seattle/Bainbridge on August 30.

According to the Washington State Department of Transportation, both runs have been operating without one of their normal two vessels each Saturday and Sunday since June 20, due to a lack of crewmembers needed to meet US Coast Guard safety requirements.

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“Over the past month, we welcomed 16 new crewmembers and 10 terminal attendants and actively worked with existing employees to increase staffing availability,” said WSF Director of Operations Greg Faust in a news release. “We’re now at a point that we can incrementally increase service and are working to restore sailings on additional routes in the weeks ahead.”

Service increases on other routes will follow as ridership demands and crewing availability allow.

“Current system ridership is nearly 60% of what it was this time in 2019 with the number of vehicles carried a little higher at nearly three-quarters of 2019 vehicle ridership. Walk-on passengers are hovering around one-quarter of last year’s numbers.”