Washington State
Ferry System

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The Washington State Ferry system is the largest fleet in the United States and the third largest in the world. 

The ferries carry passengers and vehicles across Puget Sound, from Anacortes to the San Juan Islands and Sidney, British Columbia and connecting State Route 21 across the Columbia River.

WASHINGTON STATE FERRY ROUTES
Downtown Seattle to Bremerton 
Downtown Seattle to Bainbridge Island 
Southworth to Vashon Island to Fauntleroy (West Seattle) 
Point Defiance (Tacoma) to Tahlequah (south end of Vashon Island) 
Clinton to Mukilteo 
Edmonds to Kingston 
Keystone (Whidbey Island) to Port Townsend 
Anacortes to (any or all of the following)
Lopez Island 
Shaw Island 
Orcas Island 
San Juan Island (Friday Harbor)
Anacortes to Sidney, British Columbia (The service's only Canadian port-of-call, via any of the above stops, via inter-island runs, if necessary) 
Ferry County to Lincoln County (connecting State Route 21, across the Columbia River) 

Below are photos of the 
Edmonds to Kingston Ferry Route

We were walk ons, so this photo is taken from the sky bridge that takes pedestrians onto the ferry.

 

Native Seattlelite, Wanda, took Durango to Kingston, for his birthday, crossing Puget Sound from Edmonds, a few miles north of Seattle.
You can see the skyline of Seattle thru the haze, 
as we pass the ferry heading back to Edmonds, 
and that looming whiteness that hovers over Seattle is Mount Rainier.
A wider view of Puget Sound, looking south.
Eating outside on a sunny August day in Kingston.
Back on the ferry, almost ready to dock in Edmonds.
Back on land, the ferry we just exited, and another heading another direction out in the sound.
The Washington State Ferry System is a passenger and automobile ferry service owned and operated by the Washington State Department of Transportation which operates on Puget Sound and in the San Juan Islands. The Washington State Ferry System is the largest in the world based on the number of vehicles carried, carrying 11 million annually.

The Washington State Ferry System has its origins in the "Mosquito Fleet", which were a collection of small steamer lines serving the Puget Sound area during the late nineteenth century and early 20th century. By the 1930s, two lines remained: the Puget Sound Navigation Company (known as the Black Ball Line) and the Kitsap County Transportation Company. A strike in 1935 forced the KCTC to close, leaving only the Black Ball Line.

Toward the end of the 1940s the Black Ball Line wanted to increase its fares, to compensate for increased wage demands from the ferry workers' unions, but the state refused to allow this, and so the Black Ball Line shut down. In 1951, the state bought nearly all of Black Ball's ferry assets for $5 million Washington intended to only run ferry service until cross-sound bridges could be built, but these were never built, which has the Washington State Department of Transportation running the ferry system to this day.

Tthere are 22 ferries on Puget Sound operated by the Washington State Ferry System. The Super Ferries in the fleet carry up to 2500 passengers and 202 vehicles. They are painted in a distinctive white and green trim paint scheme, and feature double-ended open vehicle decks and bridges at each end so that they do not need to turn around.
NON STATE WASHINGTON FERRIES

Publicly Operated

The Guemes Island ferry from Anacortes 5 minutes north to Guemes Island is operated by Skagit County, Washington.

Wahkiakum County operates the Wahkiakum County Ferry between Puget Island, Washington and Westport, Oregon on the lower Columbia River.

The Colville Confederated Tribes operates the M/V Columbia Princess, also known as the Gifford-Inchelium Ferry on the upper Columbia River.

Pierce County operates the Steilacoom-Anderson Island Ferry providing service between Steilacoom, Anderson Island and Ketron Island, using two ferries, the Christine Anderson and the Steilacoom II.

The Washington State Department of Corrections also operates a ferry from the same Steilacoom dock to the McNeil Island Corrections Center.

The Lummi Island Ferry, also known as the M/V Whatcom Chief, from Gooseberry Point to Lummi Island is operated by Whatcom County.

Kitsap Transit operates a passenger-only ferry between Port Orchard and Bremerton.

The Martha S., also known as the Keller Ferry, is operated by Washington State Department of Transportation separately from the Washington State Ferry System on Puget Sound, crossing Lake Roosevelt on the Columbia River in north-east Washington.

Passenger Only

The King County Ferry District operates two passenger-only ferry services known as the King County Water Taxi with service from Downtown Seattle to Vashon Island and West Seattle.

The small Jetty Island Ferry runs the short distance between the Everett Marina and the man made, unpopulated Jetty Island in the summer months for tourists.

The Lady of the Lake ferry runs year-round from Chelan to Stehekin on Lake Chelan.

Drayton Harbor Maritime operates MV Plover between Blaine and Semiahmoo Resort during summer months.



WASHINGTON STATE FERRY WEBSITE

Edmond's Ferry Dock Beach 
& Underwater Park
 

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