The essays, analyses and opinions presented as Community Voices express the perspectives of their authors on topics of interest and importance to the community, and are not intended to reflect perspectives on behalf of the Salish Current.
Commentary: San Juan County interisland ferry had 110 cancellations out of 502 scheduled sailings in the first 20 days last month
It’s been almost a year since The Seattle Times offered the stark (and, to many of us, belated) view that Gov. Jay Inslee “has one year to right (Washington State Ferries) before cementing a legacy as the governor who sailed the system into decrepitude.”
It’s safe to say that ignominious legacy now is well cemented.
It’s now likely that the first new ferry won’t sail until at least 2028, the result of Inslee’s insistence that any new ferries be hybrid electric, so WSF’s ever-shrinking, aging fleet will be with us for many years.
On top of that, the system’s staffing shortage, caused by management’s inattention to its most obvious issue — the graying of key engine room and upper-deck crew — has regularly left WSF with too few crew to meet Coast Guard requirements.
There are few signs of improvement over the past five years and now WSF is facing the expected retirements of about half of its chief engineers in the next three years. These are jobs that take years for licensing.
The shortage of ferries and crew has affected all parts of the system, but nowhere has the effect been greater than on the routes that serve San Juan County, the only county in the state entirely dependent on ferry service as its state highways.
Nowhere is the problem worse than the county’s vital interisland ferry.
In a press release explaining the situation, WSF reported the interisland ferry had 110 cancellations out of 502 scheduled sailings in the first 20 days last month — and that included a four-day period that WSF over-scheduled crew and rented Friday Harbor motel rooms to make sure the boat sailed during the 100th anniversary of the county fair.
And yes, that worked. The interisland ferry made every sailing. The county’s residents were reliably connected. Then the fair ended and canceled sailings returned as the norm.
The situation has gotten so bad the county recently asked the governor to declare a state of emergency and provide about $1 million for private passenger-only service among the islands and to and from Anacortes. Inslee said no to both, then later came to Friday Harbor for a 30-minute private meeting with the chair of the county council and a few others.
At the governor’s insistence, no opportunity was provided for islanders to have their say, to tell the governor in personal terms how this ferry-system collapse affects lives, businesses and the cohesion of the county.
Nor was there a chance to point out that WSF demonstrated for one week in August that this is a problem that has a relatively straightforward solution: Secure crew housing in Friday Harbor and over-schedule crew to insure the Coast Guard minimum can be met every day.
The larger problems — old and too few ferries, too few crew, a ferry system left to play second fiddle in the state’s Department of Transportation (roads and bridges), the delayed construction of replacement boats — are sure to linger and disproportionally affect the San Juans.
But the key business and civic connector of the county — the interisland ferry — can be fixed relatively easily, should the governor and Legislature so choose.
Yes, Inslee’s time in office now is short, but there’s still time for him to find the money to provide San Juan County reliable interisland ferry service until the Legislature can fully fund it next year. This really is an emergency, and Inslee’s last chance to show some concern.
— By Alex MacLeod
Also read in Salish Current:
- “Finally! State ferry system goes out to bid for new hybrid-electric vessels,” May 31, 2024
- “Is passenger-ferry service for the islands possible?,” Feb. 7, 2024
- “Strangled by ferry crisis, islanders demand action,” Nov. 20, 2023
We welcome letters to the editor responding to or amplifying subjects addressed in Community Voices. If you wish to contribute to Community Voices, please send an email with a subject proposal to Managing Editor Patheresa Wells-Vick (pvick@salish-current.org) and she will respond with guidelines.
Help keep the local news flowing — support nonpartisan, fact-based, no-paywall local journalism
with a donation to the Salish Current — news for people, not for profit.