The ferry system in Washington is broken. This is not news to many of you in the 10th district.
July alone has had the most ferry cancellations of any month since last September. The Governor, WSDOT, and legislative majority leaders have neglected the system for far too long which has led to unreliable service. Long waits to travel on and off of our beautiful island cost you time and money.
I feel the level of frustration that you feel. My family farm and business require the ferry. When I return to and from Olympia each session, my travel depends on the ferry. The tourists visiting our cities and spending money in our economy depend on these ferries. But most importantly to me, are the citizens of the tenth district who rely on ferries to reach family members and jobs.
Part of this problem is related to adequate crewing. We have a shortage of workers who can operate a ferry. Deck crews are underpaid and overworked, and credentialing captains and mates takes a long time. I have worked and will continue to work, to make sure we are allocating enough resources to hire, train, and retain enough crew to keep our fleet running, and am very frustrated that WSF has not made the kind of progress we need to see in meeting the shortage.
We also have a shortage of ferry boats to service our routes. Despite the majority party's desire for electric ferries, their decision to forge ahead with new technology has cost us a great deal of time. When the decision was made to purchase only electric boats in 2019, the plan called for new boats to be in the water already. Delays and cost overruns owing to this new technological requirement have pushed the process so far back that we are now expecting our first new boat in 2028. Additionally, it remains unclear how WSF will be able to implement the necessary charging ports to keep electric ferries running.
We can and must do better.
I have supported proposals and intend to introduce legislation to buy four clean diesel ferries to help our ailing ferry fleet. If passed, this would be the first time since 2016 that Washington has bought new ferries. Expanding the fleet to meet WSF’s own goals will reduce the constant congestion at our ferry terminals. Although we need ten more ferries to meet the Department of Transportation’s recommendations, we have spent far too long waiting already. Reducing emissions from our ferry fleet is a worthy goal, but we must not let noble intentions sink our fleet. The longer we wait, the older our remaining boats are, the closer to failure our fleet becomes.
In addition to buying more ferries, I have voted in favor of expanding the regions from which we can buy them, increasing our potential suppliers, and expediting the time to get them.
I am also in favor of raising the pay for ferry engineers. According to a recent Seattle Times article, ferry engineers earn 50% less while doing double the work compared to those in the private sector. We cannot expect to have a functioning ferry system while not incentivizing workers to operate and maintain the system.
The ferries are a vital part of our state highway system and are lifelines to our communities, but for too long, our ferry system has been lacking in structure, discipline, and accountability. We are feeling the impacts of poor planning and inflexible ideology.
To the folks in Clinton, Freeland, Langley, and everywhere else in the tenth legislative district, I know how much this issue means to you, and I will continue to fight for you. We need pragmatic and practical solutions to the complex problems facing our ferries, and we must hold the system accountable when it fails if we ever hope to fix it.
- Senator Ron Muzzall
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