b'MEMBER NEWSMEMBER NEWS Over 20 million Riders and Plans for More FerriesI n 2025, Washington State Ferriescrew shortages seeing the largest drop.the end of 2025, Gov. Bob Ferguson (WSF)sawitsridershipincreaseThisimprovementreflectsWSFsreleasedhisproposed2026supple-bynearlyamillionpassengers,recentinvestmentinbuildingandmental budgets which plans to add pushingtheyearstotalridershiptosupportingitsworkforce.Intotal,$1 billion for up to three new 160-20.1 million. This was an increase ofWSFoperatedmorethan150,000auto hybrid-electric ferries, on top of fivepercentover19.1millionriderstrips in 2025nearly 7,000 more thanthe three already funded.the year before.thepreviousyearandcompleted 98.6 percent of all scheduled sailings,It also includes $150 million for pres-Thereturnoffulldomesticservicethanks in part to roughly 400 fewerervation and maintenance to keep the islargelycreditedwithboostingthecancellations than in 2024. operationsoldestboats(Tillikum, annual ridership. In June, the Seattle/ Kaleetan, and Yakima) in service un-BremertonroutessecondboatwasBoth the number of vehicles and foottil the new vessels arrive. This fund-restored, and the Fauntleroy/Vashon/ passengersgrewbyabout350,000.ing is on top of WSFs base budget. Southworth Triangle run resumedPassengersinvehiclesclimbedbyaFergusonsproposalalsokeepsthe its daily three-boat schedule. In July,more modest 250,000. operating and capital budget mostly a second boat was added to the Portthesame,withonlysmallchanges Townsend/CoupevillerouteonFri- Thenewyearhasseenachalleng- fromthe2025-27transportation daysthroughMondaysforthebusyingstartwithvesselstakenoutofbudget.Lawmakerswillreviewthe travel season. serviceattimes,butthecompanygovernorsplanduringthe60-day has worked to restore service in eachlegislativesessionwhichrunsfrom There was also a decrease in canceledcase and is looking ahead toward aJan. 12, through March 12. sailings,withcanceledtripsduetostronger fleet in the coming years. At ADVERTISERS INDEXAll American Marine . 52 Hamilton Jet 17 Rolls-Royce Solutions America 57Bay Ship and Yacht . 12Humphree USA . 26 Scania USA . 54BRIX Marine . 51 IMTRA Corporation 31 Schottel 19Burger Boat Company 18 Incat Crowther 39 Starkweather & Shepley Insurance Carus Cruise Inc. 37 JE Russell Interiors 24Brokerage Inc. 6Crowley 13 John Deere Power Systems 33 The Shearer Group 11Cummins Sales & Service . 27 Kongsberg 50 TotalTek 12DeJong and Lebet . 17 Metal Shark . 24 Twin Disc, Inc. 29Eastern Shipbuilding Group 33 Passenger Vessel Foundation 41 Volvo Penta 2Flagship Marine Inc 23 R.W. Fernstrum Co 13 ZF Marine Propulsion Systems Furuno USA, Inc. . 23 Rehlko . 11 Miramar, LLC 25Gallagher . 25 Rigidized Metals Corporation 55Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding. 19 RocketRez 32FOGHORN 56'