Dual ferry service returns to Port Townsend for first time in five years

Published 12:01 am Sunday, May 13, 2012

PORT TOWNSEND — Port Townsend has two-boat service beginning today, which starts the first complete summer of two-boat service since 2007.

The MV Salish returns to the Port Townsend-Coupeville route to provide two-boat service with the MV Kennewick.

Single-boat service will resume in the fall.

Washington State Ferries’ summer schedule doesn’t begin until June 17, so the spring schedule remains in effect, with the first ferry departing Port Townsend at 6:30 a.m. and the last boat leaving Coupeville at 9:15 p.m.

In between, ferries leave from each terminal approximately every 45 minutes.

In the winter, the schedule is every 90 minutes.

The crossing takes about 30 minutes each way, the state ferries system said.

The Salish has been on standby status at the state’s Eagle Harbor Maintenance Facility at Bainbridge Island and was used as a backup vessel throughout the state ferries system through the winter and spring.

Higher fares came into effect May 1.

The 3 percent general fare increase coincides with the May-September peak season surcharge.

Single-ticket prices for vehicles also increased 25 percent on all routes, except for the San Juan Islands, where they increased 35 percent.

On the Port Townsend-Coupeville route, the one-way fare for an adult is $3.10, while vehicles under 14 feet with a driver are $10.25 and vehicles under 22 feet with a driver are $12.70.

Another fare change increases the discount for vehicles shorter than 14 feet.

The three Kwa-di Tabil-class ferries were built for the state by Vigor Shipyards — formerly Todd Pacific — for $213.2 million.

The construction — the first new ferry construction by the state in a decade — was undertaken after the Steel Electrics that had plied the Admiralty Inlet route between Port Townsend and Whidbey Island were pulled from service in 2007.

All of them now have serviced the Port Townsend-Coupeville route.

The Chetzemoka, the first ferry in the Kwa-di Tabil class, began service in November 2010.

It was followed by the Salish, the second ferry in the class, last July.

In October, the ferry system announced the Chetzemoka would be moved to the Fort Defiance-Talequah route on a permanent basis.

For more information, including schedules and fares, visit www.wsdot.wa.gov/ferries.