From KOMO News today:

More than a dozen Washington state lawmakers are pushing Gov. Jay Inslee to declare a state of emergency for Washington State Ferries (WSF).

The end goal of the move is to make it possible for the state to get two new ferries within two years.

“We have a state of emergency. The question is, do we have the political will to call it what it is,” said state representative Spencer Hutchins, (R) Gig Harbor.

KOMO News has documented countless issues that WSF has and continues to face. WSF is working with fewer boats than it needs to fully run all of its routes, an aging fleet that requires a substantial amount of maintenance and repairs, a shortage of workers, and other mishaps.

https://komonews.com/news/local/washington-state-ferries-emergency-republicans-governor-jay-inslee-rep-andrew-barkis-spencer-hutchins-seattle-olympia-lawmakers-fleet-vessel-boats-ships-repair-staff-issues-workers-route-hb-2498-hybrid-electric-contract-zero-emission

We’ve reported here on an extended list of troubled ferry services across the world, some where they have to publish reliability data, operating at only 75%, with older ferries than CalMac and at far higher prices for travellers.

And this from the same report:

WSF is struggling to maintain service across 10 routes, with just 21 boats, but what it needs is 26 boats.

CalMac does 49 routes with 33 vessels, at half the ticket price of most, at 98% reliability in the last few days and at 95.4% over the season, in colder and stormier seas that all of them.