A long-awaited milestone for islanders will have to wait a little longer.

Washington State Ferries announced last week that trials for the return of three-boat service to Vashon’s North End Dock Triangle Route serving Vashon/Fauntleroy and Southworth would not begin in April, as previously announced, but rather, the trials are now expected to begin sometime in May.

The reason? “We are not at the crewing levels yet to reliably trial pre-pandemic three-boat weekday service on our Fauntleroy/Vashon/Southworth route,” ferry spokesperson Justin Fujioka announced, in a terse email. “We now anticipate starting trialing our three-boat weekday schedule sometime in May.”

In a follow-up email, Fujioka addressed the timing of the return to the Triangle Route for the MV Cathlamet — now sailing again after a $7.7 million repair following its crash at the Fauntleroy Dock last year.

The vessel had been scheduled to return to the route by the end of April, but Fujioka said that timing might also change, depending on repairs needed to another vessel — the Walla Walla, which grounded on Bainbridge Island on April 15.

Justin Hirsch, a member of Vashon’s Ferry Advisory Committee — an appointed group of three islanders who meet regularly with ferry officials — expressed his disappointment about the delay in the start of the trials to restore three-boat service on the Triangle Route.

“Two-boat service is unacceptable as we move into our busy summer schedule, especially given that one of those two boats is the Sealth, which has significantly less vehicle capacity than our typical Issaquah class ferries,” Hirsch said, in an email. “The allocation of resources to different routes within WSF is almost entirely politically defined, and we have waited too long.”

Hirsch said that he applauded the workforce development efforts currently underway at WSF. But he characterized those efforts as “too little, too late.”

“WSF should have started what they’re currently doing years ago,” he said.

Hirsch shared that he had recently requested and received more information from WSF about the agency’s labor shortages. “They’re mostly short of engineers, and it looks like the number they are training now is insufficient to replace potential retirements,” he said.

Hirsch has also urged islanders to join him and other ferry advisory committee members at their regular meetings, which are also attended remotely by ferry officials. The next meeting takes place at 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 26, at Vashon Library. The agenda includes updates on the Triangle Route, plans for a new Fauntleroy dock, and other service-related issues and enhancements. The meeting can also be attended via Zoom at tinyurl.com/25rhhskw.

To read the most recent update to WSF’s service restoration plan, visit online.

Walla Walla grounding

The grounding of the 50-year-old Walla Walla, on April 15, has now added to WSF’s woes.

More than 600 bound passengers and crew were aboard at the time the boat beached, during a run from Bremerton to Seattle. The grounding, directly in front of a waterfront property, made for dramatic photos, and a tiring couple of days for the passengers who had to be shuttled off the Walla Walla to be transported back to Bremerton via a Kitsap Transit fast boat.

Many could not retrieve their cars from the boat until Sunday, after it was towed back to Bremerton.

According to reporting in the Kitsap Daily News, initial indications were that the vessel had suffered a generator failure, but an official investigation will determine the cause.

The Seattle Times caught the reaction of Gov. Jay Inslee, who was near the scene of the grounding on Saturday.

“Look, we have a very old fleet and we desperately need new boats,” Inslee said. “We’ve known this for a long time.”

Changes to priority medical loading … and complaints about rudeness

Following up on a University of Washington study of WSF’s medical preferential loading process, the agency moved its system for obtaining permission for such loading from fax to online, on March 20.

On that day, it stopped accepting faxed applications, and customers must now work with their healthcare provider to submit a form included on WSF’s website.

Fujioka, a WSF spokesperson, explained the new system in an email.

In response to applications, he said, passengers will receive a confirmation email that they must print and then show at the terminal at the time of their travel, along with identification that matches the name on the form.

“Medical preferential loading customers will still have paper documentation to show others,” he said, adding that the new system is now in effect with a 90-day grace period that allows applications, faxed in prior to March 20, to be accepted through their expiration, but not after June 18.

These new procedures are aimed at making the process easier for passengers, their medical providers, and terminal staff, Fujioka said.

However, some disabled and medically compromised ferry riders on Vashon said they have experienced rudeness from fellow passengers, at both the North End and Tahlequah docks, while using priority loading — a violation of both their peace of mind and their rights as disabled and medically-compromised persons.

In a social media post and in additional correspondence with The Beachcomber, Janise Morrison, who is disabled and uses a taxi service to travel to therapeutic appointments on the mainland, described experiencing multiple angry confrontations by ferry users after her taxi driver proceeded to the front of the line to position the vehicle for priority loading at the North End dock.

“There have been numerous people knocking on our window, speaking aggressively and disrespectfully, silencing me, complaining to the ferry, or giving unnecessary and incorrect directions….” she said. “None of that is fun even on a good day, and I wind up feeling as though I don’t belong here.”

“It’s best to leave it to the ferry workers to do their job of directing us,” she added. “If you see a taxi or transportation vehicle going to the front of the ferry line, that is likely someone getting medical transportation … let them be in peace. I would appreciate being able to focus on getting treatment without the added stress.”

Kaycie Alanis, an islander who is also authorized to use priority loading to keep frequent medical appointments in Tacoma, described an even worse situation at the Tahlequah dock, where there is no lane to bypass the line.

“You are absolutely beholden to the compassion of folks letting you in,” she said. “Someone tried to aggressively run me into the side [of the road] when I was trying to get in, even with my pass on the dash.”

“Every rider shouldn’t have to know the rules and be able to recognize the priority loading pass, but … be kind and assume good intent,” she said. “Roll down your window and ask before you try pushing someone off the road.”

Alanis said that priority loading is less fraught with rudeness, coming home from medical appointments, from both the Fauntleroy and Point Defiance docks.

“It’s getting to [the] treatments that is hard,” she said.