Fast Ferry cuts loom as WA faces budget crisis

Fast Ferry cuts loom as Washington faces budget crisis

Commuters in Kitsap County and on Vashon Island may soon see limitations on a popular transportation option, as budget constraints threaten to sink funding for several fast ferry and water taxi sailings.

BREMERTON, Wash. - Commuters in Kitsap County and on Vashon Island may soon see limitations on a popular transportation option, as budget constraints threaten to sink funding for several fast ferry and water taxi sailings. With Olympia facing a multi-billion dollar shortfall, state lawmakers are opting to no longer fund multiple weekday roundtrips to and from Seattle.

"We need our ferries. We only have this one final ferry," said Deb, a Bremerton resident. "We cannot afford to lose our fast ferries."

What we know:

Currently, the plan is to slash seven weekday roundtrips to Bremerton on the fast ferry and four to Vashon Island on the water taxi.

"People who don’t live in Seattle and need the ferries to commute to Seattle aren’t going to get there as reliably," said Brad Hogan, a Bremerton commuter who takes the fast ferry to work at least five days a week. "It’s just going to destroy everybody’s free time because they have to catch even earlier ferries and take even later ones."

Hogan, a Navy veteran, believes ferry service to his peninsula home should be expanded, not reduced.

"I’ve always been impressed with their operational tempo. The way they can just get 100 people across, unload and load them back up in less than five minutes," he said. "Those guys don’t fall behind, like almost ever."

In the Washington State Senate’s 2023-2025 budget, legislators allotted millions of dollars to increase water taxi and fast ferry services. However, these funds were omitted from the newly drafted budget for 2025-2027. A spokesperson explained that the previous allocations were only meant as a stopgap until more state ferry boats could return to service.

Governor Bob Ferguson recently announced that Washington would delay hybrid-electrification of its ferry fleet to keep more boats operational—a move that may address some service gaps.