Washington's ferry system steers toward less choppy waters

[LisaM]

1. Before the pandemic? It was already bad then.

I remember it in the 1990s, when it was wonderful. They had full galley service ON the ferries, if you were in line before the last ferry was scheduled they would run extras, and they had full crews. Now they keep crews down to the bare minimum (so they are often short), they baked in some rule that ferries had to be built in Washington so now they can't get boats built (not to mention they are now fixated on electric boats) and they've outsourced the galleys for years, so the food has gotten progressively worse and more expensive (this was all due to Prop 696). That may not sound like a huge deal but when you have to scramble to catch a ferry on a Friday night and the stores are closed when you get to your destination it matters.

They did finally loosen up on built in Washington at least.