What an absolute disaster
Orcas Island -> Anacortes ferry. Anybody else waiting in this insane line?
I’m a 90 minute drive from Anacortes 😭
WA State Ferries needs some help. The odd rules about where new boats can be made needs to be reevaluated.
If you’re referencing the practise of only allowing ships to be built in WA - this is no longer a requirement.
Law passed last year allows for nationwide bids now, they previously didn’t allow it.
Ah. Thank you for educating me.
Great. So they can take bids for ships that will be ready in 2030.
Disagree. Like with Bertha, people spit fire when the immediate benefit isn’t demonstrated. We are an impatient and short-term species. But in general it’s a good policy to protect WA priorities.
It really isn't. Protectionism always hurts the customer in the end. We are in a climate crisis and need to get as many ferries as possible, no matter where they're coming from
Nah. That’s like selling the house to pay the light bill. It’s a shite system with poor management, and little foresight to predictable issues. Millions depend on its reliability for their health, work, and education. Yet, Olympia failed them.
They made that change, but a boat takes 5 years to make. We're at least that far out for new ships. Also, this state is fucked, revenue-wise. Schools, transportation, health are are fucked and that's not changing with the current revenue structure.
The state is far from fucked revenue wise. It’s budget has more then doubled in past 10 years and ran massive surpluses in recent years including an extra $2B spent just a few months ago..
Sunk cost at this point. Huge waste of money to abort the plan as it is, and some day it’ll pay off. Just harder for voters to accept in the short term
Well, those rules won't really cause any headaches for the guvna on Bainbridge.
Chances are the next sideshow governor wont care about our inconveniences either.
But 100% electric sounds so sexy. Just like a Cybertruck. Oh I hope the new ferries look like Cybertrucks, THAT'LL win folks over.
A 1980s version of the Kalakala.
Oh man, I am sorry! I love Orcas and usually go every year but am too scared lately with the state of the ferries!
ferries used to be rock solid, you could depend on them, they left and arrived on time. how things have changed.
Yeah, because they're old as fuck and need to be replaced.
I agree that recently the ferries have had more issues, especially on the central Sound, but arrived and left on time? Nah. I’ve been riding the Anacortes ferries on a regular basis for the past 37 years and in the 90’s would regularly catch a ferry that was three hours late, especially on busy weekends. We’d put the car in line in the morning to catch a ferry in the afternoon. It should absolutely be better than it is now, but it’s rosy retrospection that it was better in the past.
I lived on the islands for 27 years and the ferries have always had to pivot on a dime to accommodate weather, emergencies, and trying to fill the boat. That affects the schedule and what time it shows up. It would also be insane to upgrade the ferries to accommodate the summer crowds when most of the year it’s far from capacity.
Old boats need more frequent work and break more often, it's hardly shocking. Nothing they can do about it if the fleet isn't replaced with new boats over time.
How far is the line backed up?
Just imagine what it’s been like for those of us who rely on WSF on a daily or near-daily basis…
After 12 years as governor, Inslee’s legacy will be that he let the ferry system rot to the state it’s in today.
The agency was warning for the past decade-plus that it was going to run into problems with both crewing and vessels, but those concerns consistently fell on deaf ears both with the legislature and the governor.
COVID, the Jones Act build requirements, inflation etc are all just excuses. WSF was neglected even though the agency was very publicly warning of the impending problem. In the meantime, the population, wealth and tax revenue in this state soared to record levels.
Unfortunately, it’s going to take a lot of time and money to dig back out of the mess.
He let it rot? Pretty sure any time DOT-related funding comes up on a ballot it gets voted down.
One time I was waiting on the ferry from Orcas and it arrived, but then departed quickly leaving most of the waiting passengers on shore.
Been there before.
We left at 5:10. That really sucks .
This happened to me last summer and it was my last straw. I will no longer be taking the Washington ferries. We had people there for over four hours past midnight.
Yes, ferries bad you shouldn’t come to San Juan Islands anymore. Stop coming ferries bad too many people trying to drive stop it. They are people who actually live in Work in that entire county take the fairies every week to make vital infrastructure function you’re literally driving us to desperate choices.
Lol yup. Broken steering mechanism I read. Just amazing. I'll be lucky to be home by midnight