T6.2 Olympia ferry service
Support ferry service between Olympia and Seattle.
Senator Hunt introduced a bill in the 2018 session (SB 6054) which would have had the Department of Transportation study possible passenger-only ferry service between Olympia and Seattle, considering a direct fast service and a slower service with additional limited stops. (It didn’t go beyond a hearing in the Senate Transportation Committee. It was reintroduced in the 2019 session as SB 5157, and met the same fate.)
However, the Port of Olympia’s Citizen’s Advisory Committee completed a study of the idea in 2018. (They concluded that fares could only be expected to cover a third of the operating costs; additional local taxes would be needed to cover the rest.) The Puget Sound Regional Council is currently conducting a study considering additional passenger-only ferry service in the whole state; their report is due in January 2021.