ABOARD THE AQUA EXPRESS — You realize it’s not your typical foot ferry when the $3 gin-and-tonic bar special is announced on the day’s final run between Seattle and Kingston.
“We want everyone to feel comfortable as possible,” says Aqua Express general manager Brian Grantham, adding that customer service is taken very seriously aboard the 89-foot, 2,400-horsepower catamaran capable of seating up to 322 passengers.
“We fight for the first customer in the morning and we fight for the last customer of the day,” Grantham says.
Near the full bar, gourmet meals are ready to be pulled from the refrigerator.
A cheerful Ela Brickson samples a sweet roll with fresh crab on her way home to Port Townsend on Wednesday night after visiting a Seattle friend.
“It makes so much sense to me,” the home-base upholsterer says of the passenger ferry, 12 years in the making.
Her only criticism, she says, is that Jefferson Transit needs to connect with Kingston to make public transportation between Port Townsend and Seattle a seamless experience.
“I think the whole community would support that, even if it met at Port Gamble for the connection,” says Brickson.
Already, Jefferson Transit and Pennco Transportation are looking into at least making an Aqua Express connection with Kitsap Transit, possibly at Poulsbo’s park and ride.
Making friends
The new ferry ride, which debuted Tuesday, is already making friends of commuting professionals.
Judith Hoyle of Chimacum said the ferry makes her three-day commute to work at Equity Office Properties in Seattle much faster and enjoyable.
The one-way trip from Kingston to downtown Seattle’s Pier 55 lasts about 40 minutes.
“I have been waiting for this for five years,” said Hoyle, lives with family in Chimacum.
Aqua Express is transporting an average of 250 passengers a day at an average speed of 27 knots, Grantham said.
The high ridership day or 903 passengers was a free day to introduce the service last Friday.
The day before, 436 took the vessel, which is the former Washington State Ferry Tyee.
As Aqua Express, the boat has been outfitted with new airline-style seats.
“This morning we had about a 13 percent increase in ridership,” Grantham said, which brings the company to about 25 percent of its goal to eventually transport 1,000 riders daily.
He believes ridership has been hindered because Aqua Express launched mid-month, at a time when monthly ferry passholders have committed to the state ferry run out of Kingston and Bainbridge.
That’s why he anticipates a spike in ridership in March.