“Seattle process” leaves ferry shortage unfixed … is it time to rock the boat?

Mary Bruno

Mary Bruno Jul 8, 2025

Feb 6, 2018

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                <h1>“Seattle process” leaves ferry shortage unfixed … is it time to rock the boat?</h1>
                <h2><p>How will Washington avoid last week’s ferry fiasco? (You'll recall that the breakdown of the ferry Tacoma triggered a cascade of delays and reroutings. It was a mess.)  According to a KUOW report, there’s no quick fix. The state’s slow, bureaucratic process makes it difficult</p></h2>
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               <p>By <a href="/author/mary-bruno-crosscut-com/">Mary Bruno</a></p> 
              <p><time datetime="2025-02-04T05:00:00-08:00">Feb 6, 2018</time></p>
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            <p>How will Washington avoid last week’s ferry fiasco? (You'll recall that the breakdown of the ferry Tacoma triggered a cascade of delays and reroutings. It was a mess.)  <a href="http://kuow.org/post/why-washington-ferries-are-such-headache-replace?ref=dev.cascadepbs.org">According to a KUOW report</a>, there’s no quick fix. The state’s slow, bureaucratic process makes it difficult to replace Washington’s fleet of geezer ferries (which could die any day). All ferries, by Washington law, must be built in state, with a portion of the work done by Washington apprentices. That well-intentioned rule limits the number of shipyards eligible to do the work, increases the cost and reduces the competition. And greenlighting new boats takes awhile, since  lawmakers tend to approve — and argue over — funding for one new ferry at a time.The good news is that there's a new Samish ferry is under construction. But that won't ease the short-term ferry shortage, because the Samish won’t be in service until early next year. — E.W.</p>
          </article>

How will Washington avoid last week’s ferry fiasco? (You'll recall that the breakdown of the ferry Tacoma triggered a cascade of delays and reroutings. It was a mess.) According to a KUOW report, there’s no quick fix. The state’s slow, bureaucratic process makes it difficult to replace Washington’s fleet of geezer ferries (which could die any day). All ferries, by Washington law, must be built in state, with a portion of the work done by Washington apprentices. That well-intentioned rule limits the number of shipyards eligible to do the work, increases the cost and reduces the competition. And greenlighting new boats takes awhile, since lawmakers tend to approve — and argue over — funding for one new ferry at a time.The good news is that there's a new Samish ferry is under construction. But that won't ease the short-term ferry shortage, because the Samish won’t be in service until early next year. — E.W.

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By Mary Bruno

Mary was Crosscut's Editor-in-Chief and Interim Publisher. In more than 25 years as a journalist, she has worked as a writer, editor and editorial director for a variety of print and web publications,