Washington State Ferries

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Ours is the world's second largest ferry system.

49,000 riders per day.

A vital link across the Salish Sea as Western Washington's population explodes.

But years of underinvesting management that didn't plan for a wave of retirements and jobs that just didn't provide the quality of life they used to.

All combine to put the ferry system in an historic crisis.

Patti Rub Stella is the person in charge and she's our guest next on northwest down.

Washington state ferries lost 400 employees to COVID vaccination firings and hasn't been able to recover.

When combined with an aging fleet of 21 ferries trying to serve an ever growing demand, the service reductions and missed sailings have become part of the daily routine for people living in the San Juans and all across Puget Sound.

There is little debate that the ferry system has been struggling.

The questions are about what the solutions are.

As Northwest now contributor John Albertini tells us.

One of the solutions may be the system's partnership with the Seattle Maritime Academy.

The flood of rush hour commuters spilling off the Tacoma says a lot about the popularity of the ferry.

Stacey Starr is one of them.

Five days a week.

It's pretty peaceful.

It's really beats sitting in traffic in a car.

On I. I like that sex.

But for all its magic and convenience, the ferry system was vulnerable even before the pandemic.

And today, operators are still struggling with delays, cancellations and uncertainty.

Yeah, definitely.

Thursdays and Fridays are.

I have them exiled on my calendar.

33 year old Fernando Benitez learned to expect the unexpected.

That's not going to Bainbridge those days because when I come back from work, it.

It's very likely I have a delayed ferry.

Delayed in many cases because there were not enough people to keep these boats moving.

Ian Stirling is with Washington State Ferries.

You know, there's this worldwide shortage of mariners and that leaves us competing with the oil companies for tanker operators with the container ship folks, even with tugboat companies.

Right now, we're our biggest shortages and licensed deck officers, a captain's mates, that type of thing.

By most accounts, Washington State Ferries has been underfunded by the state.

But Governor Jay Inslee recently proposed two year budget includes $46 million for staffing, terminal improvements, maintenance and new vessels.

And over the next decade, that's more than a billion won.

The Seattle Maritime Academy is among those training the next generation of merchant mariners.

So in addition, some state and local government regulations may be regulations that are stricter than the six away.

These jobs are now full time, no longer seasonal, and the state is covering tuition costs for those who can't afford the two year program.

There's even child care assistance.

But surrounded by more glamorous tech jobs, appealing to young people has been a tough sell, says Dean Bateman, associate dean of students.

Part of our challenge is reaching into communities and talking to kids younger and planting the seed of these are great jobs.

These are great opportunities.

You can travel the world.

Washington State Ferries is doing business with an aging fleet.

21 boats and the Tilikum is more than 60 years old.

The bidding process looked promising for five new electric ferries, but that fell apart and new bidders are being sought.

Ian Sterling We have some boats on the drawing board.

It takes 2 to 3 years to build a new boat.

Once you push, go, We're just about there right now and then we'll start building new vessels.

The first won't be complete until 2027.

Until then, repairs and maintenance are going to be needed to keep three other ferries moving.

You know, they've got the fast ferries.

I think that's a good thing.

At the new Coleman Dock in Seattle, we caught Bruce Hoff waiting on a return trip to Bremerton, maybe putting a few more of those on.

We might not be sitting here right now if there was a fast ferry earlier in the morning.

The to do list is daunting.

Staffing, we're told, won't return to normal until mid summer and routes like the Anacortes to Sydney won't make it back until then either.

For Northwest now, I'm John Libertine.

2023 is shaping up to be an important year for the restoration of full ferry service.

Joining us now is the top official at the ferry system, Patti Rob Stella, the director of maritime operations.

Patti, thanks so much for coming to Northwestern now.

You know, we talk about the ferry system and it really is one of those iconic things here in the Northwest.

I put it right along the salmon or the Space Needle or any of those things, which is why I think we love it so much.

And I also would say, too, why passions run so high when things are going sideways, why people are going so cuckoo.

And I'm sure you have felt your share with that over the past couple of years with COVID and looking at your updates.

You know, the news actually is trending pretty good lately.

We had 100,000 more riders last year, so that seems to be going up.

Crews are getting trained.

I know you wish you could push the easy button and have them all show up tomorrow.

So I guess, you know, when I'm going to use air quotes here, When do we get back to normal, do you think?

Yeah, it's really hard to determine that.

You know, we've got a lot of things in the works.

As you mentioned, we got different training programs.

We've been hiring folks.

But so much is predicated on, you know, people getting through those training, taking tests.

And it's just it's a process.

And unfortunately, I don't have a crystal ball that's, you know, signals to the perfect here's when it's all happening.

But I think definitely in this calendar year, we're going to see most of the service back.

If I forced you to pick and I know the answer is both, but I'm forcing you are your are you more equipment and gear limited or more human resources and people limited?

Well, right now it's both.

I know.

I know.

You know, just having the pilot go out with hitting a log on the Edmund's Kingston run.

So we're definitely having some issues on the vessel side, but our crewing side is a bigger issue.

And again, a big part of that is just getting folks through that training process.

Let's talk a little bit about the training, too.

John Albertini, one of our contributors, talked a little bit to the Maritime Academy and those talk a little bit about those partnerships and the importance of getting allies in terms of finding these people to to man this system.

Yeah, absolutely.

I mean, it's important to have those partnerships with those training programs not only right now to help us with our current staff, but really long term.

And we really need to be thinking about how are we growing young folks and getting them interested in the maritime industry.

And so I don't know if folks are aware, but they're just started a maritime high school just a year ago.

And so getting kids excited about maritime industry and then having these other programs they can step right into to get those certifications and then come on board at Washington State Ferries.

I'm probably going to date myself a little bit in terms of asking this question, but set me straight.

Maybe give me a little history and tell me what changed what you're trying to change back maybe to my perception of a young person was that the jobs with washed out on the ferry system were kind of the plum jobs.

Like, listen, you have to go pay some dues.

You're going to be holding a flag on a highway for a while.

You might go you might be in eastern Washington shoveling salt.

Who knows what it's going to be a while before you get to ride on the ferry boat and do the cool thing.

And then I keep reading, though, that that changed over time.

The working conditions got to be really tough.

Scheduling was a nightmare.

You had to you were part time forever.

You really couldn't lock on to it as a position and a job and almost you really couldn't aspire to it.

It was a hard pathway.

Am I correct in that perception?

And and is there anything that you're working on getting?

Right.

Well, the history with a lot of the positions at Ferry's was the you kind of got into it because your dad was in the industry or your uncle.

And so a lot of most people start really at the bottom level and then they work their way through.

So the culture that we have is you endure.

You know, my dad did it, I do it.

It's just what you do.

But I think with today's the newer generations, I mean, they don't want to put up with the part time work or the on call, as we call it, where you're never sure whether you're going to have a full paycheck or not.

I certainly wouldn't want my kids to have that kind of a job.

So that's one of the things.

Last legislative session, the governor and the legislature have now funded us where we don't have on calls.

Having that situation where they're never sure whether they're going to have that paycheck.

So we're trying to change some of those historical ways of how we employed people.

In addition, we're funding training.

I mean, that that's a new concept where we don't.

In house.

In house, Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, and we use our partner organizations as well, but we're actually paying for their time to go get training and to get the training itself, because that training can cost like $10,000.

And like for a single mom.

How do you do that?

Yeah.

If you have those resources and to build upon that too, there's training to be a deckhand and matriculating up and and then there's training to be a captain or a mate or a navigator or maybe one of the top guys in the engine room where the body of knowledge required and the level of experience with our tides and Deadheads, as the pilot found and all the other elements of a very dynamic environment, whether you name it, start to come into play, you can't just say, Hey, we're going to start a training program and yeah, we've got new captains.

No, this is a years long process.

Talk a little bit about some of the quarterbacking and, you know, offensive side players.

You can't just draft a quarterback or a wide receiver that those are those are special players.

Talk a little bit about that.

Right.

Yeah, it does take a long time.

And in particular, you know, we call it Ordinary Sailor that's kind of entry level onto the deck for them to move up to being a captain takes five years and it takes a lot of that training.

As I mentioned, it costs and it takes time.

Now, a lot of the requirements are coast Guard driven, so we don't have control over that.

But at the end of the day, we want people to be safe and we want the right training so that they can safely navigate those boats back and forth.

So, yes, it does take time, but I'm excited with our programs that we're offering.

We've got a lot of interest and we're going to see some really good results.

I know you could pull out a big spreadsheet right now, probably trifold schedule in your boats, cross, cross-referenced with you your routes and really take the deep dive.

But give me, I guess, a thumbnail sketch of what has been restored that people have been clamoring for and what's still out there to be restored.

That's kind of on your radar right now.

Sure.

We first started up in the San Juan, so we do have salon service fully restored except for up to Sydney during the summer.

And that's really going to be our last route that we implement.

And so since San Juan's, we've then done Bainbridge and then Mukilteo.

So those are back to full service.

We were hoping to get Edmonds Kingston.

We started that first of the year.

Single boat, right?

Well, those two, two boats, however, the Puyallup that was on that.

Oh, that's right.

That's is now out and we don't have a spare boat put in service.

So once we get that trial service and then restored, then we'll move to the triangle route, which is the Fauntleroy bash on Southworth and get that two three boat service, then Bremerton to two boat Port Townsend, Coupeville two two boats and you're you're thinking 20, 23.

We're thinking 2023.

And again, a lot of it depends on how many folks we can get through those programs with the discussion about coming back to full service, here's the big philosophical question for you.

So you get to sit back and ponder this.

Even if you hear this is my proposition.

Even if I were to wave a magic wand and you got back to full, you know, full service, all the boats, all the routes, it's all running, I think based on the population and the demand, it's still not enough.

There is still a demand for more ferry service out there.

And then you get into this discussion, well, how much growth do we really want to promote on the peninsula?

It's like building a freeway.

Well, we've doubled the capacity.

Well, guess what?

We've got more sprawl and more cars because they fill to that capacity.

That's going to I'm asking you to put your long term planning hat on and thinking about this into the future as our population grows.

What what's the right answer there between growing and controlling growth in some of those kinds of things?

Well, first of all, the pandemic really constrained our kind of reduced our ridership.

And so we think our growth that we had planned for in our long range plan, it's going to take longer to get there.

But I think from a long term perspective, as you mentioned, you know, there's only so many cars we can put on a boat and move back and forth.

So we need to find creative ways to encourage people to take other modes to be able to walk on to the ferries and then have those other mode options on the other side.

So that's one of the studies we're kicking off this year is up in the San Juan's in particular, as you read my mind, I was going to say the San Juan's as we're really talking about that.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So we're targeting, you know, and of course, what can we do at that terminal?

What other mode options and choices can be provided so that people can show up, they're not in their car and be able to take advantage of the San Juan Island.

Do you ever think you'll ever get to the point where there are we're not doing reservations, we're not having lines.

You can make the boat that you line up for.

Do you ever see that day again, or is that a memory?

Is that me in my childhood?

Yeah.

I'm not sure.

I mean, as you said, it's very popular.

Not only do we have people that are commuting and we have a lot of economics going back and forth, the economy, but we have a lot of tourism.

And so I'm not sure that it will ever be where you can just drive up and drive right on to a boat.

This is a chance for you to, you know, if to pretend the state legislator legislature sitting over here, if you had a chance to speak with them and I'm sure you do here and there.

But what is your request of them right now?

Some new funding did come in in the past couple of years.

Is it sufficient?

Do you need more?

What do you do?

You need a more regular source of funding with the absence of the excise task, what what is the ask of the legislature in terms of the system?

Well, first of all, last session was kind of unprecedented for them.

How much funding that ferries got.

Not only did we get funding for five new boats and also some conversion to hybrid electric, but they also really invested in workforce development.

That's what we continue to need.

We need to think long term about how we're continuing to grow our staff and recruit in to the ferry system.

But we still need more boats.

Our long range plan still calls for more boats, not only new boats but more relief boats.

And so that's that's the ask right now.

So that level of funding and I don't remember what the number is, maybe you you do right off the top of your head.

You see that as something you'd like to see as an annual commitment as opposed to a big slug of money that came during COVID.

And yeah, we we, we haven't we can't say, yeah, we've solved our problems, right?

Correct.

Yeah.

We've got an aging fleet.

We've got three boats that need to be retired over the next three years, and we're not going to have new boats in the next three years.

And so it's we've got to keep investing into that infrastructure, but also our people.

We've got to really be investing in them and creating these jobs and in something that, you know, the young folks, again, are interested in coming into the maritime industry.

What is the status of the of the new boats, the new electric hybrids?

I know and some of this may be old news, but update me.

You had the basic design.

They went out to bid.

They came back way too expensive.

And the last I heard, you were kind of like, Well, here we are.

Maybe we should go out to bid again.

Where are you with those boats?

What's in the process?

Yeah, so we had extended our contract with our previous boat provider and yeah, the cost was too much and the risk tolerance wasn't there.

That was vigor.

That was with vigor.

Yeah.

So we're in the process of putting out a procurement document to build those five new boats that I mentioned and really just shortly that we'll be getting that procurement out on the street.

And they do need to be built here in Washington State.

So we've been actively letting the industry know about that.

And our target is that in 2027 we'll be our first boat.

After you got that feedback, did you have to respect them at all or they toned down or are they still the same boat you wanted?

How would you have to do?

Yeah, fundamentally still the same boat that we wanted.

But going with design build, we might see some of innovation that gets brought depending on who bids on it.

You said 2027.

You think for the first one that that's what we're targeting?

Yes.

Let's talk a little bit about exactly what they what they are.

I mentioned just threw out the term here electric.

They're hybrid.

So they have a couple of different power sources.

Just talk, if you would, about what the what the shiny new boats will be in the next five years.

What can folks expect?

Yeah, they'll be hybrid electric.

So they will run on electric batteries.

However, we still will have diesel engines as backup.

One of the things that we are investing in is shoreside power.

So when our boats come into dock, they will get recharge, the batteries will get recharged.

And so it's good for the climate, it's good for the air quality, it's going to be good for the wildlife in the water because they'll be much quieter.

Talked a little bit about the the boat infrastructure, which are, you know, that's your high priced, high profile cool thing everybody points out.

But I think it's sometimes underappreciated how much infrastructure has to go into surrounding that boat fleet.

I mean, from the repair facility and and backup boats and the docks and the Piers Coleman dock just came on line.

It's kind of a shiny new cool thing that people can go down and observe and see as a result of some nice progress.

What's what else is rolling out in terms of other, if you will, cool stuff that's coming online, other terminals?

Well, as I mentioned, that shoreside power, although I don't know that that's cool, but that's definitely needed.

We're in the planning phase right now at Fauntleroy Terminal, so that one is just at risk with seismic issues as well as as the sea level rises.

We're having challenges at that location.

So that's our next terminal that we're targeting.

We also have new tollbooths, so we're going to go in at the Anna Cortez and we're doing some ADR projects as well.

Let's talk a little bit specifically to about the San Juan's.

They've come up a couple of times in the discussion we've had so far.

My perception is that those folks have I don't know about uniquely, but maybe disproportionately suffered a little bit during the past couple of years with the difficulties with service.

Have you been in a dialog with the folks at all with the same ones?

What are they?

What are they telling you?

Have they are they still your friends?

Yeah.

So I think we're still friends, although they're not always happy with us.

But yeah, it's tough.

They're an island community, right?

And their only form of getting on and off transportation wise is through our service.

And so it's been a hard row for them.

But we do have ferry advisory committees and one up in the San Juan's.

And so we actively share with them where we're at, what we're doing, taking their input and suggestions and really hearing, hearing where they're at, any changes that are coming as a result of those.

I mean, I know the the push is to get back to normal, but are there any improvements or in this process, have you had a couple of any aha moments with the system?

We've always said, you know something, we've we've did it this way.

Then we didn't weren't able to do it for a couple of years and we this was our workaround and actually work better.

If you had any kind of revelations that have come out of this process, nothing major.

The big thing up in the San Juan's is we've known even before the pandemic we need to rewrite the schedules for up there.

And so that's an effort that we're launching here in the next few months, is to start that community engagement and involvement on that.

I think the other thing that maybe I've realized is we've just pushed to try to eke every second out of the service to just maximize service.

And that's where we end up having challenges when let's say the fuel truck doesn't show up or that you can't pump the sewage fast enough, you know, and you get those little moments that quickly take you off schedule.

And that's frustrating to the customers.

I mean, they really want on time performance and those tend to cascade.

If you're too tight, you end up with there's no slop in there.

You don't have you're not going to make the regular sailing.

Now you're behind all day.

And it's not just that boat, it's the boat that's right behind it as well.

So that's one of the things I've heard, is that that cascading effect.

So that's an interesting operational point you bring up that maybe was a little bit of that aha moment for you that as opposed to trying to run it so tight, if there's a little air in there, we can adapt, Right?

Yeah.

Interesting point.

One of the things I read in your weekly newsletter, which I recommend people if you're interested in the ferry system, take a look at It's very good.

You've alluded to this a couple of times and not much detail and I was a little surprised that it's it's must be bad enough where it's come to your attention.

Rider misconduct.

What what was that all about and what do you think brought that about?

And is it like the airlines?

I guess we're seeing all these incidents on the what's going on?

Well, I think everybody's noticed through the pandemic that just people's tolerance has has really changed.

And so we're seeing a lot more aggressive behavior with our customers.

So unfortunately, we hadn't had a passenger code of conduct.

That's something other transit agencies have.

So our folks have put together such a code of conduct, and we'll be launching that here in the next month or so.

But it's really just to give our employees tools to address these issues.

I mean, it's everything from really horrible language being thrown at our staff to even at times they even get assaulted.

So it's just really giving them tools to be able to deal with that and hopefully temper that down.

I hope it never comes to this.

And as far as I know, so far it hasn't.

Do you ever see a day when law enforcement is, you know, they're going to be on sound transit, you know, here and they're scattered through the system?

Do you ever think that'll come to the ferry service?

Well, we had that to some extent with state patrol.

And unfortunately, State Patrol's having a lot of workforce challenges as well.

So we are actually have hired security in particular at Colman Dock and are looking at how we might deploy them on some of those vessels that we see the more egregious kind of behavior happening on them.

So you're able to actually track that, get those reports and then allocate resources as necessary.

What does swing it back to this rider advisory bodies that you have that are providing feedback to the ferry system?

How would somebody go about getting involved in that if they're living on the peninsula or a regular customer or thinking that they want to have some input?

How can people in the system speak back to the system?

Well, if they want to get on those ferry advisory committees, they need to talk to their county governance body because they actually appoint individuals to those committees.

They can also just reach out to those committees.

So you can go to our website, see who's on those committees and send information.

You can also reach out to us.

We definitely want to hear from them as well.

And then we're also committed Ferries is very committed twice a year to hold public meetings so that we're also kind of having a forum for people to hear what's the current state of ferries but also get input and feedback.

Speaking of people in the customers fare box, recover and you talked a little bit about funding, is do you ever see that playing?

Is that going to end up playing, you think, more of a role over time or less of a role over time as expenses increase?

And and what's your what's your prediction there?

Well, I don't know that a lot of it depends on what the legislature kind of where they're at and what they can provide, because we do do a balance of gas tax funding to support as well as the fare box.

And so a lot of it's driven by just how they fund us.

MM Yeah, because I know that's one of the things that varies that can be a little vexing sometimes.

As you know, it's kind of a cycle where the ridership goes down, so your revenues go down and here you are right in through the pandemic.

We were fortunate, we received a lot of federal funding support and I totally feel with our customers they did not want to see fares go up when we're not providing normal service.

And so that's been a struggle.

Patty, thanks so much for coming in Northwest now.

Great conversation.

Thank you.

The troubles with the ferry system are so vexing because we care about it so much.

The bottom line, there's no other way to put it except to say its iconic like salmon, the Seahawks, the Space Needle and Mt.

Rainier.

And that's why we all wish Patty Rob Sotelo the best and thank her for her time here on Northwest now.

I hope this program got you thinking and talking to watch this program again or to share it with others.

Northwest now can be found on the Web at kbtc.org.

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A streamable podcast of this program is available under the Northwest now tab at kbtc.org and on Apple Podcasts by searching Northwest.

Now that's going to do it for this edition of Northwest Now and Till next time.

I'm Tom.

Layson, thanks for watching.