FERRY ALERT: Two-boat service to continue on Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth route tomorrow; third boat might be back Monday
Vessel problems on other Washington State Ferries routes have left the Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth route on two-boat service, and that will continue tomorrow (Friday, January 23), according to this explanation from WSF boss Steve Nevey:
This week, a second large ferry had to be removed from service, leaving us with just 15 boats when we need 17 to run our full winter schedule. Yesterday, Wenatchee hit a log while sailing from Bainbridge to Seattle in the fog, bending one of its propellers. This morning, we moved Sealth to join Tacoma on our busiest route. This leaves both our Fauntleroy/Vashon/ Southworth and Seattle/Bremerton routes down a vessel. Repairs to Wenatchee are expected to take a few days, with a return to Seattle/Bainbridge service possible Sunday. That would allow us to relocate Sealth to our Bremerton route for the Seahawks playoff game, when we expect heavy travel to and from Seattle. Then late Sunday night, we plan to shift Sealth back to Vashon Island. This allows us to restore our “Triangle” route’s full three-boat weekday schedule on Monday. If Wenatchee is not ready, we will keep all ferries where they currently are.
As Nevey reiterated during Wednesday’s systemwide online community meetings (WSB coverage here), the system suffers chronically from an undersupply of boats, and unexpected problems tend to have domino effects like this.
