Three weeks after ferry officials announced the triangle route would continue with its 2-boat schedule until 2024, ferry officials made clear last week there is little to nothing they can do to ease the situation for riders beyond sometimes adding a third boat — unscheduled and unannounced — as crew and vessel availability allows.

The Vashon Ferry Advisory Committee (FAC) met last week, joined by two Washington State Ferry (WSF) staff members and about 20 islanders, and discussed the delay in reinstating the third vessel and other service-related challenges.

After the meeting, Vashon FAC Chair Justin Hirsch said he believes in the short term, substantive schedule improvements would occur only if WSF removed a vessel and staff from another route and assigned them to the beleaguered triangle route — something that WSF has not indicated it is considering.

“That would be the only option they have with the resources they have,” he said.

Looking to the long-term, he encouraged islanders to write their elected officials and ask that they find a permanent, stable funding source for WSF.

He noted that other ferry-served communities are unhappy as well, including those that have had their pre-pandemic schedules restored, as they are continuing to experience service disruptions.

“This is not okay,” he said. “We need legislators to come up with something so that we can fund ferries at a level that gives WSF the resilience to recover from unexpected problems.”

At the June 28 meeting, WSF’s Community and External Relations Manager Hadley Rodero and Legislative Analyst Rachel Dean fielded questions from FAC members and islanders who were hoping to hear about measures that would improve ferry service.

Islander Rebecca Davies expressed her frustration with the number of vessels that bypass Vashon and go straight from Southworth to Fauntleroy: nine vessels between 1 p.m. and 12:35 a.m. on weekdays. She questioned fuel efficiency and fairness.

“Why can’t those boats stop and pick up passengers?” she said, noting that she wonders just how many riders could be on the boat from Southworth at 7 p.m. headed to Fauntleroy.

“I am speaking out because I do not understand it,” she added. “You look at the ferry schedule, and you go, ‘That is impossible. They are bypassing us from 1 o’clock to midnight.’”

Islander Lesley Reed concurred.

“It needs to be a fairer allocation until we have a three-boat schedule. Those boats are not full from Southworth, and there is no reason those boats cannot be stopping here if we do a little better planning,” she said.

Davies also inquired about frequent overloads on the 5:20 a.m. vessel, with few Vashon cars loaded. Recently, only 25-35 Vashon vehicles were able to get on, she said, with the rest of the available space given to Southworth traffic.

“It should be 50-50,” she said, regarding space allocation on the boats. “And when there is high traffic, Vashon should be given preference because Southworth passengers can drive around.”

In response, Dean said that the 5:20 a.m. vessel is the only one that does not have a Southworth/Vashon vehicle allotment assigned to it.

Because the Vashon overloads created by this are worse for islanders when a smaller vessel, such as the Sealth, serves the route, Hirsch requested that any fill-in boats be either Issaquah- or Olympic-class vessels, which carry 124 and 144 cars respectively.

He also requested allotment numbers for those morning sailings from WSF, noting that early morning eastbound travelers can often have long waits on Vashon if they miss the 5:20 boat, as loading on the 6:15 a.m. vessel is limited, and the next sailing is not until 7 a.m.

Rodero cautioned that vehicle allotments are a service-planning function, and given that the service planner position is currently vacant, she and Dean committed only to looking into the issue with the current planners and providing the FAC with allotment numbers this week.

“I cannot commit that we would be able to change the allotments on the two-boat schedule at this point,’’ she said.

She also spoke more broadly about the current schedule.

“We recognize there are challenges with the two-boat schedule. It was never meant to be used in the long term, like it is today,” she said. “But we just do not have the resources to rewrite that schedule right now or to make those changes.”

WSF’s most recent service planner, who writes sailing schedules, recently left his position, Rodero said, and no one else in the state transportation department has that expertise. Additionally, WSF has prioritized revising the San Juan schedule, which has not been updated in 15 years. Finally, Rodero said that there are public process requirements in changing sailing schedules.

With insufficient crew and limited vessel availability to run the third boat on the triangle route, WSF officials announced early this month that they were considering adding a third vessel when they could. They cautioned that it would be intended to help keep the two-boat schedule on time, but that travelers should be prepared to see unscheduled sailings arrive and depart, to see vessels leave partially full and to go first to a terminal other than their destination.

So far, there is no time frame on when the third vessel might appear, though it could happen as early as the end of this week. When there is crew and vessel availability, Rodero said the crew will work their full shifts on the route, but she cautioned that the third vessel will be limited.

“It is unlikely to serve the triangle route very frequently,” she said.

Rodero instructed islanders to refer to WSF’s Vessel Watch to see when the third vessel is operating. FAC members pressed to receive notifications, such as a text blast, announcing when the vessel is on the route, but Rodero said staffing limitations did not allow for that, though she would inquire if a standard text could be sent out to remind people to look at Vessel Watch to see vessels operating in real-time.

“I know it sounds like it would make sense to have someone in real-time tweeting what is going on, but we do not have that resource at the terminal able to do that,” she said.

FAC member Wendy Aman countered with evident frustration.

“What is sad to me is what I hear is what you can’t do. I do not hear what you can do. It seems to me writing a template [for a text alert] is not that difficult. …It seems like that is a minimal thing for a community that is an island community that is dependent on the ferry system and that is not being served well. And I think maybe there is a way for someone in your management stream to look at what is going on here and find ways to find resources to adjust some of the things we are talking about,” she said.

Late in the meeting, several of those attending talked about the importance of reaching out to the island’s elected officials to seek solutions. Islander Alice Larson was among them, saying that she believes that Vashon has lost its clout in the Legislature with islander Sharon Nelson no longer serving in the Senate.

“Now that we have got novice representatives, we do not have power in the Legislature anymore,” she said. “I am not sure how we regain that power, how we find some advocates in the Legislature for us, because that seems to me to be the real answer to all of this.”

To reach the Vashon Ferry Advisory Committee, email vashonfac@gmail.com. The committee’s next meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Wednesday, Aug.23, at the Land Trust Building.

— Susan Riemer is a former editor of The Beachcomber.