WASHINGTON — Governor Bob Ferguson laid out his plan to restore full ferry service by this summer, and he wants the state legislature to include $28 million for the ferries in the budget.
Many Washington ferries are canceled due to mechanical issues or staffing shortages, and Governor Ferguson says that this is largely because the state doesn’t have all of its boats in the water.
Today, the governor added that he is delaying the plan to convert two ferries to hybrid-electric versions until after the 2026 World Cup.
He says this means the state’s largest ferry, the Wenatchee, will be back in the water by June — getting the ferry system back to pre-pandemic levels of 21 vessels in the fleet, with 18 in the water at any time.
He’s also prioritizing recruiting new staff and retaining current members.
“Those collective bargaining agreements include $28 million in compensation for all ferry workers. So I want to be clear that has got to be part of the budget that I sign, we have got to have that to maintain the service. We have additional vessels, we are getting to pre-pandemic levels, but we’ve got to support the crew. That is the backbone of our system... and make sure they are compensated fairly for the very important work that they do,” said Governor Ferguson.
The governor’s long-term plan includes five new hybrid vessels by 2029, and another eleven vessels by 2024, to keep the boats modern and up-to-date.
Ferry officials say that in 2024, more than 19.l1 million people took a Washington ferry. Governor Ferguson says that by increasing route reliability, that number will only continue to grow.
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