San Juan County Establishes Interim Inter-Island Transportation Services as RFP Process Continues

SAN JUAN COUNTY, WA. March 19, 2025 – As San Juan County works through the 11 proposals received for emergency transportation services as part of its Request for Proposals (RFP) process, the Council has established an interim system for interisland travel.

This week, the County finalized a contract with an Orcas Island business, Outer Island Excursions, to develop temporary interisland transportation services through April 15, 2025, in the event the interisland ferry is out of service before the full suite of pilot services from the RFP process is available. Providing this service has been discussed at several recent Council meetings and reflects Council’s desire to extend the availability of the pilot program.

“We want to ensure that even while we’re setting up the full array of transportation options, our residents who rely upon interisland travel for their jobs, medical appointments, and schooling can still move between the islands during outages,” said Council Chair Kari McVeigh.

Per the one-month contract, Outer Island Excursions will monitor the interisland ferry schedule for cancellations. If a ferry is out of service, within two hours the company will provide foot passenger transportation between the islands. Riders can sign up for seats aboard the boat, see the schedule, and learn more about the program via their website:

Schedule: https://www.outerislandx.com/emergency-water-taxi
Sign Up for Seats: https://outerislandx.rezgo.com/details/388236/emergency-inter-island-water-taxi-service
Call with Questions: 360-376-3711

This interim service will be provided through April 15, 2025. At that time, the County expects to roll out a more complete suite of transportation options as part of its pilot program to host Emergency Transportation Services.

Status of Process for Emergency Transportation Services

In February, San Juan County released a series of Requests for Proposals (RFPs) asking for interested parties to provide a variety of transportation services throughout the County. Three separate RFPs outlined services including foot passenger transportation from Anacortes to San Juan County, inter-island foot passenger transportation, and emergency barge transportation services. The County received a total of 11 proposals and is currently in the process of reviewing, evaluating, and awarding the contracts.

The County expects to award contracts to service providers by mid-April.

Project Background

In August of 2024, Council issued a request to the Governor’s Office for ‘executive relief’ from ferry service disruptions, providing a 180-day proposal. This request was granted in September when WA State Governor Jay Inslee traveled to Friday Harbor to announce an award of $1.5 million from the Department of Commerce’s Emergency Rapid Response fund, with a contract finalized in November. San Juan County’s program aims to support three main initiatives during ferry service disruptions:

Interisland passenger-only water taxi service   
Anacortes / San Juan Islands passenger-only charter service   
On-call essential/critical services barge transportation

Funding from the Governor’s Office will support these three pilot initiatives on an interim and emergency basis.  The pilot project is expected to commence under a schedule proposed by the service provider and agreed to by the County. At this time, the project is expected to conclude on June 30, 2025, but may be extended as funding allows.

Questions? Contact: Mark Tompkins, Health & Community Services Director, 360-370-7517, markt@sanjuancountywa.gov

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