(The Center Square) – As the state invests hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars into electrifying its ferry fleet, Washington State Ferries faces a significant capital budget shortfall, even as ridership isn’t expected to return to pre-2020 levels anytime soon.
“We’ve identified a situation that needs to be thought through,” House Transportation Chair Jake Fey, D-Seattle, said at the committee’s Friday meeting. “I want everybody to understand kind of where things sit right now.”
The state Department of Ecology recently reported that it spent $599 million in the fiscal year 2025 on WSF’s electrification program intended to replace its diesel ferries with hybrids. That program calls for 16 new vessels and for the fleet to be 85% hybrid-electric by 2040. Most of the money for that process comes from the Climate Commitment Act, which generates revenue through quarterly carbon auctions.
Meanwhile, although the WSF capital budget accounts are balanced through the 2027-29 biennium, it faces a combined shortfall of $250 million to $300 million per biennium in the long term, according to a presentation made to House Transportation. WSF’s capital budget is funded primarily through the Puget Sound Capital Construction Account and the Capital Vessel Replacement Account, along with various transportation packages enacted by the Legislature.
“In the short term, things are covered,” staff member Amy Skay told the House Transportation at its Friday meeting. “In a long term for a lot of boat construction … you would say, ‘I don’t know how that’s going to be solved.’”
Currently, WSF has 21 vessels, though typically three to four are actively undergoing preservation and maintenance. According to House Transportation Committee staff, there is no reserve vessel if one breaks down.
WSF’s 2022 Capital Asset Management Plan warns that several ferries with normal lifespans of 60 years will need to be retired a decade earlier “because they “have had neither sufficient out-of-service time, nor funding to complete the preservation requirements of the Lifecycle Cost Model. These vessels are experiencing reliability issues and structural steel degradation that will shorten their attainable service life.”
Additionally, several WSF terminals at Anacortes, Edmonds, and Southworth need preservation and maintenance.
At the same time, WSF ridership remains below 2019 levels and isn’t expected to return within the next decade. According to the House Transportation presentation, passenger and vehicle ridership increased annually from 2012 until 2018, where it reached a peak of almost 14 million passengers and nearly 10 million vehicles. By 2035, it is estimated that vehicles will remain just below 10 million, while passengers will stay below 12 million.
Fey told colleagues at that WSF’s long-term financial situation will be addressed “probably in the budget.”
