The fall ferry schedule, which began on Sunday, has slightly fewer sailings than the previous fall schedule and changes to sailing times throughout the day on the north-end route.

Washington State Ferries recently revised the Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth schedule in hopes of alleviating the frequent delays that have plagued that route and to allow for more loading time when a larger ferry is added to the route next month. In mid-November, a 124-car Issaquah Class ferry will replace one of the route’s 87-car Evergreen State Class ferries. The larger ferry was originally supposed to come on at the same time as the revised schedule, but issues with other ferries in the system have delayed its arrival.

WSF has long hoped to address frequent delays on the triangle route, which state officials say is scheduled tightly and allows little time for aging ferries to catch up from delays. The state originally planned to eliminate multiple ferry trips throughout the day and space remaining trips farther apart. However, after pushback from riders and ferry advocates on Vashon, WSF moved forward with less significant changes, mostly adjusting sailings to be 5 minutes before or after they were previously.

The weekday schedule also lost one mid-day sailing each from Fauntleroy to Southworth, from Southworth to Fauntleroy and from Southworth to Vashon. It gained one mid-day sailing from Fauntleroy to Vashon. The weekend schedules have the same number of sailings as the previous fall schedule.

Ferry officials and state lawmakers had also hoped to restore the state cadet that once directed traffic at the Fauntleroy dock to help alleviate congestion there. But during the last legislative session, money was only allocated for added ferry staff hours at the dock.