Commuters experienced long waits to get off the island Monday morning after Washington State Ferries (WSF) cancelled several sailings because of lack of qualified crew.

These cancellations came on the heels of 90 cancelled sailings last year due to crew shortages, including a day in the fall when 31 trips were cancelled, affecting both the south and north ends of Vashon.

Following those cancellations, the state Department of Transportation secretary called for the ferry system to add 45 staff members to avert such problems in the future.

But it was not enough on Monday, WSF officials said, as the ferry system had to supply crew to take the Chetzemoka to the shipyard for required maintenance, and a long-standing training drew many others, leaving WSF with 38 positions to fill. Marta Coursey, a WSF spokeswoman, said they were able to fill all but three open shifts.

So far this year, there have been 15 runs cancelled for lack of crew, Coursey added.

“We deal with a pretty constant challenge of filling crew positions,” said George Capacci, the deputy chief of operations and construction at WSF.

In winter months, Capacci said, the ferry system is stretched thin by required maintenance on vessels — and using crews to transport them — as well as ongoing training needs.

It was this combination that meant a crew shortfall on Monday, he said.

While some islanders speculated that crew members had simply called in sick after celebrating the Seahawks’ Super Bowl victory, Capacci said that was not the case, and that, in fact, WSF had been trying for about 10 days to fill the open positions and had called, on average, 200 staff members a day to fill the shifts.

When it was clear no one would be signing on, WSF sent out and an announcement Sunday night, shortly after 11 p.m., alerting ferry riders that some early morning runs would be cancelled and then a two-boat schedule would be in effect. The three-boat schedule resumed at 12:50 p.m., according to a notice from the ferry system.

Capacci added that WSF is spending a lot of time on the issue of staffing and that officials would be talking later that day about whether training should be scheduled some time other than a Monday morning.

WSF officials are also working with the labor unions to come up with stand-by staffing strategies, and they have been “very cooperative,” he said.

On Vashon, Greg Beardsley, the chair of Vashon’s Ferry Advisory Committee, expressed his feelings about the trip cancellations.

“It sucks,” he said. “It shows the lack of ability they have to meet the requirements of ferry users.”

Beardsley added that he believes staffing routes should take precedence over a training.

“That’s their job — to provide a service to allow people to drive on the marine highway,” he said.

Capacci could not say when the problems would be resolved and that doing so will require both more staff and on-call staffing strategies with the unions.

“There’s no silver bullet, no single thing,” he said.