Kitsap Transit awarded $13.5 million Passenger Ferry grant

News Release - Kitsap Transit 

Grant for buying new fast ferry to operate Kingston/Seattle route 

BREMERTON, Wash. – Kitsap Transit (KT) will receive $13.5 million in federal funding to buy a new fast ferry that would replace an older vessel operating the Kingston/Seattle route, improving the Kingston 
Fast Ferry service’s reliability.

The federal funding comes from the Federal Transit Administration’s Passenger Ferry Grant program and covers nearly 80 percent of the project’s $17.5 million cost. Kitsap Transit is contributing about $4 
million in local dollars to the project.

“This funding allows us to buy a new boat to operate a route that has been running with a backup vessel – M/V Finest – that is older and has had to go out of service repeatedly for multiple issues,” said 
Executive Director John Clauson. “In late August we had to suspend sailings on the route for five days because we didn’t have a working spare vessel. This funding will give us the opportunity to reduce 
downtime and enhance service reliability.”

The 349-passenger Finest was built in 1996 and refurbished by Kitsap Transit in 2018. In recent years, required maintenance has exponentially increased. Kitsap Transit completed a survey of the vessel that 
found the hull and engines are at or near the end of their useful life. To extend the life of the Finest would cost between $14 million and $17 million.
 A new ferry would cost about $17 million, incorporate cleaner diesel engines, and could resemble Kitsap  Transit’s bow-loading vessels M/V Enetai and Commander, each of which has capacity for 250 passengers.

Also see New ferry to set sail for Kitsap Transit

Contact: Sanjay Bhatt, Marketing & Public Information Director, sanjayb@kitsaptransit.com