washington state ferries

Washington state maintains the largest fleet of passenger and auto ferries in the United States. The system, known as Washington State Ferries, serves communities on Puget Sound and in the San Juan Islands. The ferry system has its origins in the "Mosquito Fleet," a collection of small steamer lines serving the Puget Sound area during the early 20th century. By the beginning of the 1930s, two lines remained: the Puget Sound Navigation Company (known as the Black Ball Line) and the Kitsap County Transportation Company. A strike in 1935 forced the KCTC to close, leaving only the Black Ball Line. Toward the end of the 1940s the Black Ball Line wanted to increase its fares, to compensate for increased wage demands from the ferry workers' unions, but the state refused to allow this, and so the Black Ball Line itself shut down. In 1951, the state bought substantially all of Black Ball's ferry assets for $5 million. It only intended to run ferry service until cross-sound bridges could be built, but these were never approved, and the state Department of Transportation runs the system to this day.

Current vehicle routes

Downtown Seattle to Bremerton
Downtown Seattle to Bainbridge Island
Southworth to Vashon Island to Fauntleroy (West Seattle)
Point Defiance to Tahlequah (south end of Vashon Island)
Clinton to Mukilteo
Edmonds to Kingston
Keystone to Port Townsend
Anacortes to (any or all of the following route order)

Anacortes to Sidney, B.C. (The service's only Canadian port-of-call, via any of the above stops)

Current passenger-only route

Vashon Island to Seattle

Counties served

Island, Jefferson, King, Kitsap, Pierce, San Juan, Skagit, Snohomish

Subculture

As the largest fleet in operation in the United States, the Washington state system is substantial enough to have generated significant political issues, labor activism, and even its own minor subculture, as exemplified by this humorous poem penned by a long-time employee:

Sharing the Ferries

The ferries are bought and run with money from "John Q.";

Thus all the public owns them--not just a favored few.

So let's divvie up the ferries in a manner that is fair,

Being sure that everyone gets a proper share.

The Governor needs the rudders to guide his "Ship of State";

The Legislature need the ships' clocks for sessions that run late.

The Department of Transportation needs the radars and UHF radio,

Since they're always in a fog no matter where they go.

The Highway Department gets the engines for their "Civil Engineers,"

And the passengers get the galleys for their Koffee Klatch and beers.

The Ferry Users Associations, lest they feel left out,