New Daily Service Schedule, Growing Ridership & Other Insights on County’s Pilot Transport Services

SAN JUAN COUNTY, WA. April 25, 2025 – After completing the first week of its pilot project, San Juan County is sharing an update regarding its Marine Transportation Services. These services include emergency barge and foot-passenger transportation during disruptions to Washington State Ferry (WSF) service as well as travel to and from the mainland (Anacortes) on a daily basis. Each of these services is provided at no cost to the passengers, subsidized by the County’s emergency funding awarded by the Governor’s Office.

“We’re off and running with this free service to the public and I’m pleased with our first week,” said County Council Chair Kari McVeigh who was on the inaugural sailing from Friday Harbor last Friday. “As this project moves forward, I’m eager to get feedback from the community and our operators to understand what this experiment has meant for our community.”

New Schedule for Daily Passenger Service

San Juan Safaris is providing seven-day a week, twice daily passenger-only transportation service to Friday Harbor, Orcas, Lopez, and Anacortes. Starting today, April 25, they will be utilizing an updated schedule that prioritizes getting passengers to their desired destination in a timely and consistent manner.

Use the table on the right to select the timing that is right for you. The schedule, along with booking information, is also located on the San Juan Safaris website.

Estimated Travel times: Friday Harbor to Orcas: 30min; Orcas to Lopez: 15min; Lopez to Anacortes: 75 minutes; The vessel does not stop at Shaw Island due to a lack of public dock space available on the island.

Growing Ridership

During the first week of service, San Juan Safaris reported transporting approximately 110 people – including eight bikes and two dogs – around the islands. Passengers sited using the service to travel for work, school, and leisure activities. With increasing reservations over the coming weeks, they expect that ridership will continue to grow.

The emergency interisland passenger service and emergency barge service were not activated as the Washington State Ferries did not experience service disruptions in the last week. Essential service providers interested in using the emergency barge service must pre-register to be contacted for emergency barge service. Pre-register here: https://sanjuancountywa.form.transform.civicplus.com/50601

Questions or Feedback?

Do you have questions about the County’s pilot project? We’d love to hear from you! Use the ‘Feedback’ tool on our website to provide comments on the pilot project. These comments will be compiled and provided to the County Council, to the operators if necessary, and others involved in the pilot project.

Feedback link: https://engage.sanjuancountywa.gov/san-juan-county-emergency-transportation-services?tool=qanda#tool_tab

Questions specific to the route, booking a seat, and pickup/drop off locations should be directed to the operators. Use their websites to book your seat, see the schedule and pickup/drop off locations, read answers to frequently asked questions, and much more:

Daily Passenger Service Between Anacortes and San Juan County provided by San Juan Safaris: https://www.sanjuansafaris.com/passenger-boat-service
Emergency Interisland Passenger Service provided by Outer Island Excursions: https://www.outerislandx.com/emergency-water-taxi
Emergency Barge Services provided by Pintail Marine: https://www.pintailmarine.com/emergency-barge-service

Next Steps

The marine transportation services are available for ten weeks and will conclude on June 30, 2025, coinciding with the end of the State’s fiscal year.

For the next ten weeks, San Juan County encourages the public to take advantage of these services and to provide feedback via the website. Are these services helpful to you? What would make it better? All comments will be compiled and utilized in assessing the project.

For a complete list of information about the County’s pilot project to establish marine transportation services, please visit: https://engage.sanjuancountywa.gov/san-juan-county-emergency-transportation-services

Questions? Contact: Mark Tompkins at markt@sanjuancountywa.gov.

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