Last week in a public meeting on Vashon, representatives from the state’s ferry system addressed both improvements and challenges ahead for the system as a whole and for Vashon in particular.

The four Washington State Ferries (WSF) officials who led the meeting at McMurray Middle School last Wednesday reviewed the implications of the next phase of construction at the north-end dock, the implementation of more efficient ticketing procedures at Fauntleroy next month and weekend sailing schedule adjustments slated for this summer on the Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth route. They also fielded questions from the nearly 50 islanders who attended, ranging from frustration with sailings cancelled because of an inadequate number of crew to what islanders might do to lobby lawmakers for increased funding for the ferry system.

In a follow-up conversation, WSF Community Services and Planning Director Kristina Arsenault said she thought the evening was helpful.

“I think it was a productive meeting, getting the conversation distilled down to where we are and the challenges we are facing,” she said.

After the meeting, Greg Beardsley, head of Vashon’s Ferry Advisory Committee, agreed.

“Most got a real good sense of the problems associated with all of this,” he said.

Regarding the construction on the north-end ferry dock, Leonard Smith of WSF’s Operations Design, told those gathered that in late April work will begin at the dock’s offshore end, necessitating the frequent closure of one of the slips and the re-routing of pedestrians.

“This will be the most disruptive portion of this job, in my view,” he said.

With that phase, one of the slips will be closed between 7:30 a.m. and 3 p.m. Monday through Thursday for about five weeks, he added. While ferry workers will work to minimize schedule disruptions, some effects from operating with just one slip are likely. That phase of the project is set to be completed May 25, Smith said, with the remainder of the project expected to draw to a close at the end of June or into July.

“We are anticipating roughly the end of June that we would be done to the point where we should have the traffic back on the dock … the project primarily completed,” he said.

In what was good news to many of those gathered, in mid-April WSF will begin sending only ticket-buyers through the tollbooths, while ticketed passengers will be able to go around, having their cards read by a ferry worker with a handheld device.

Beardsley said ferry officials have asked the Vashon Ferry Advisory Committee to assist with that, helping them figure out what is working well and what isn’t.

Further changes are coming this summer, according to WSF Planning Director Ray Deardorf, who noted that on summer weekends, the triangle route frequently gets behind schedule because there is often not enough time scheduled between boats. This summer, in a 14-week pilot schedule, WSF plans to make adjustments on the weekends so that there are more single destination trips from Fauntleroy to Vashon and Southworth and fewer shared sailings, allowing enough loading and crossing time to keep to the schedule. In the mornings, extra capacity has been added, while in the afternoon, the schedule has been spread out a bit.

Beardsley believes this effort is worth a try.

“We have not had the best luck with the schedule for several years, and other than minor tweaks, there have been no changes for a very long time,” he said.

He added that there will be fewer sailings between Southworth and Vashon, posing a difficulty to some.

“People will have to re-learn the schedule and plan accordingly,” he said.

Islanders asked a wide range of questions beyond the meeting agenda with considerable time focused on the frustration islanders experience when sailings are cancelled due to lack of crew.

Greg Faust, WSF’s director of Marine Operations, dispelled some misconceptions, noting that most often when this occurs, it is for reasons other than staff calling in sick, such as oversleeping for an extremely early shift or an error in the scheduling or dispatch system. In a follow-up conversation, he said the problem is compounded by how long it takes to get staff to Vashon and that only one ferry worker, who can fill in quickly, currently lives on Vashon.

Reached on Monday, Faust noted that he was going to talk with the labor relations representatives that afternoon about an idea that arose at last week’s meeting: providing incentives for work on specific, affected routes as another way to minimize those types of cancellations.

During the meeting, he noted that ferry riders had made a significant impact in Olympia recently, when lawmakers were considering using the 34-car Hiyu as the ferry system’s back-up vessel. In the end, they agreed to use the 87-car Klahowya instead. Faust also noted that the state’s legislators determined the ferry system needs 21 boats, with one boat allowed as a back-up vessel, meaning that when a new boat comes on, an older vessel must be retired.

“The whole idea that one stand-by vessel is enough is a fallacy,” he told those gathered.

A new ferry is slated to come into service next spring, and Beardsley said — as WSF employees cannot engage in lobbying — he expects the Ferry Advisory Committee will encourage citizen action to begin next winter to try to keep another boat in reserve.

More reserve vessels are important, he added, because of the age of the ferry system’s fleet.

“We are trying to make them run for 60 years, which is a huge exception to the rule,” Beardsley said, adding that typically ferries that are run as much as those in Washington get retired at 40.

“We are running them a third longer than the world does, on average,” he said.

Beardsley also praised ferry chief Lynne Griffith with building a new management team when she came on in 2014 and fostering the sense “we are all in this together.”

“They all are trying very hard,” Beardsley said.