Kitsap Transit receives $13.5 million grant to buy new fast ferry for Kingston-Seattle route

The M/V Finest docks in Kingston. The new vessel would eventually replace the Finest on the Kingston-Seattle route.

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.”

“This is great news for people in North Kitsap who rely on the fast ferry to get to Seattle,” Kitsap County Commissioner Christine Rolfes said. “Thank you to our federal delegation for working with Kitsap Transit to secure this grant.”

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.