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Ridership on the Washington State Ferries (WSF) isn’t expected to reach its pre-pandemic numbers for another decade, but was a step in the right direction.

More than 19 million people caught a ride on one of Washington’s ferries last year. Still far below the 2019 ridership numbers of 24 million, but it was higher than in 2023.

“We’re excited to see half a million more riders than we had seen the year before, and as we go into 2025, we expect to see that number grow even higher,” WSF spokesperson Dana Warr said.

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2024 also had the fewest canceled sailings since 2020.

“That was a positive note for us,” Warr said. “We still have a lot of work to do, but we’re getting there.”

Last year, 2,610 sailings were canceled. The reasons vary from a lack of crew to tidal conditions to issues with the boats. In 2023, there were more than 4,300 canceled sailings.

Going into 2025, the focus is to return service to pre-pandemic levels.

“We saw four routes that we haven’t established to pre-pandemic levels, and that’s a focus for us,” Warr said. “We’re fully aware that there are communities and routes that have not been established, and we need to get those back up and running.”

The state has been running with 15 or 16 boats for a while now, while 21 is considered a full fleet. The Wenatchee is scheduled to return to service this summer. It has been in dry dock for a year as it is being converted to a hybrid-electric propulsion system, which will help. The contract to build five new hybrid electric boats should be awarded soon, but the first of those boats isn’t expected on the water until 2028.

One thing riders likely noticed last year was much more regular and consistent galley service.

“They make sure people are happy with pretzels and beer and popcorn and snacks and sandwiches,” Warr said.

Just how happy?

“We served 10,000 gallons of chowder, 326,000 pints of beer and I think it’s almost 150,000 soft pretzels,” he said.

Some quick math: That’s more than 400 soft pretzels a day. They must be incredible. The ferries also reported 530 whale sightings during the year, and workers took part in 114 lifesaving events.

“That’s a great success for us,” Warr said. “That’s 114 lives saved that might have otherwise not been with us today. And I know it’s a very proud moment for a lot of our crews to be able to be involved in that.”

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Ferry workers pulled people from the water. They even helped deliver a baby.

And even with all the canceled sailings, the service completed over 98% of them.

It will not be an easy climb back to the reliability of the past, but 2024 shows the Washington ferries service is pointing in the right direction.

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