It’s time for islanders to start speaking up in large numbers about our inadequate ferry service.

At a June 7 online meeting for users of ferry routes serving Vashon, Washington State Ferry officials waited until half an hour into the meeting to drop a bombshell: plans to restore the triangle route to three-boat service has now been postponed until after the first of next year.

The decision, they said, had been made by ferry officials the night before the meeting.

Of course, this all comes after very different news, delivered in February: that trials for the return of the three-boat were slated to begin in April, with full weekday service expected to be restored by the end of May.

And then, it didn’t happen.

First, WSF said the trials would be pushed to May. But then, on April 25, WSFannounced that the triangle route would continue on a two-boat system “for the foreseeable future.” Which, now, has suddenly turned into “after the first of the year.”

John Vezina, WSF’s director of planning, customer and government relations, delivered the shockingly bad news to attendees of the June 7 meeting, noting that he speaks frequently with Vashon’s elected officials about the triangle route and that they, and ferry officials, recognize that route travel is difficult.

“We know that as islanders you rely on our service to get to work, to get to medical appointments, to get to essential travel or just to get to a Seahawks or Mariner’s game, and for the last two years, our service levels have meant that that is much more challenging,” Vezina said.

Well, yeah. It’s been challenging, to say the least — but our ferry woes have extended far beyond having to adjust our work commutes, and plan more meticulously for off-island appointments or outings to attend sporting events in Seattle.

Diminished ferry service has impacted islanders — even those who seldom leave Vashon — in deeply harmful ways.

Many local businesses, as well as our dental and health care providers, school district and post office, are finding it increasingly difficult to attract and retain qualified workers who commute from the mainland.

Our school district — dependent on state revenue determined by enrollment — has also pivoted repeatedly throughout the pandemic years, and recently, to serve its many commuter students. How many of those students might we stand to lose in the fall, if ferries continue to limp back and forth to the island on a two-boat schedule?

Most alarmingly, our first responders at Vashon Island Fire & Rescue have endured dangerous delays in returning to the island after transporting island patients to mainland hospitals, severely limiting the district’s ability to respond to concurrent calls for assistance on the island.

At times — as every firefighter on Vashon will tell you — there is simply no one left at the fire station.

One volunteer EMT, Brigitte Schran Brown, detailed the harrowing real-life consequences at a recent public meeting.

“I have responded as a woman alone to houses because there is no one else — because they are on two, or three, or sometimes more transports,” she said.

How can we endure another seven months of curtailed ferry service to and from Vashon, operating at about 76 percent reliability, at best? Of all the routes in the system, only one route — Seattle/Bremerton — has a worse service reliability rating than Vashon, of 52 percent. Then again, those folks at least have the option to drive. We don’t.

We understand and have repeatedly chronicled the complex staffing constraints of WSF on these pages. We get it. But what is so hurtful about WSF’s June 7 announcement is the complete lack of any other solution offered for Vashon riders, save for the possibility of a third, unscheduled “ghost boat” to be added to the route on an occasional basis.

At the meeting, Vezina said that revising the current two-boat schedule to improve it is not an option, as there is not enough planning staff to do so.

That’s not an acceptable answer.

“WSF designed a Service Restoration Plan that has restored service to certain “prioritized” communities, but left Vashon to flounder in a two-boat schedule that has numerous gaps and scheduling issues,” Wendy Aman, a Vashon Ferry Advisory Committee member, told The Beachcomber this week. “Vashon needs to voice our displeasure to our state legislators, the Governor’s office and to the management at WSF.”

At a minimum, she said, she hopes the Vashon FAC and islanders will be able to encourage WSF to do what Vezina said cannot be done — develop a revised two-boat schedule that can more effectively serve the triangle route until the return of the three-boat service.

“We must all become advocates and make our voice heard,” she added.

Mark your calendars now to attend the Advisory Committee’s next public meeting, at 7 p.m. Wednesday, June 28.

The meeting will take place at the Land Trust Building, and via Zoom. Email vashonvac@gmail.com to receive a link to the online meeting.