Seattle area public transit agency Kitsap Transit said July 30 that it has pulled two vessels for service, leaving the fast-ferry service on the Kingston/Seattle and Southworth/Seattle routes without spare vessels.
The agency told passengers to anticipate canceled sailings in the event that the M/V Finest and M/V Solano need to be serviced.
“We realize this isn’t good news, but safety has to be our first priority,” Kitsap Transit Executive Director John Clauson said. “We want to give our customers the information they need to plan their travel accordingly.”
The M/V Enetai and M/V Commander are both out of service because of “a failed part in the jet propulsion system that was not anticipated to have any issues over the system’s lifetime,” according to the transit agency, which added that the cause of the part failure is being investigated.
Kitsap Transit said it expects the M/V Enetai to be out of service until mid-November, while the M/V Commander, whose part failure was discovered July 29, may not return until early 2025, based on shipyard and parts availability.
The change is expected to affect the fast-ferry service’s on-time performance and reliability on the two routes, Kitsap Transit said.
Since the M/V Solano isn’t as fast as Enetai or Commander; the vessel may take longer than 26 minutes to make the Southworth/Seattle crossing, which could impact the route’s on-time performance, according to Kitsap Transit.
