ferries

The process to get more ferries into Washington state is floating along, with the state signing a contract with shipyard Eastern Shipbuilding for three new hybrid-electric ferries this month.

Every new car ferry added to the Washington State Ferries fleet over the past fifty years was built at a Puget Sound shipyard. Now, state lawmakers are considering a break from past policy in order to obtain new vessels faster and cheaper for the troubled state ferry system.

Summer officially begins on Saturday, but it still feels like winter if you study the sailing schedule of Washington State Ferries. With ridership depressed by the ongoing pandemic, the nation's biggest ferry system is sticking to a reduced schedule through what would normally be its busiest season.

A launch, a thud, a trail of blood. NOAA believes it was a juvenile humpback whale that a Bainbridge Island-bound ferry hit in Elliot Bay a few minutes after its 8:15 p.m. departure Tuesday night.

There's a good chance that people who ride Washington State Ferries will see a permanent fare increase this fall. As part of the deal, passengers could glide across Puget Sound on the state's first hybrid-electric ferries three to five years from now.

Now that electric cars are a common sight on the nation's highways, and prototypes exist for electric trucks and airplanes, could electric ferries be next?