Submitted by San Juan County.

During this week’s March 31 Council meeting, the San Juan County Council reviewed responses to the County’s Request for Proposals as part of the pilot project to establish marine transportation services throughout the islands. These services will be available at no cost to the public, subsidized by the County’s Emergency Rapid Response funding awarded by the Washington State Governor’s Office.

In the meeting, County staff provided an overview of the 11 proposals received and shared recommendations to begin contract negotiations. After reviewing the proposals and discussing the options, Council directed staff to initiate contract negotiations with three service providers: Pintail Marine, Outer Island Excursions and San Juan Safaris.

Description of services

San Juan County’s pilot project seeks to support interisland travel during disruptions to Washington State Ferry service as well as travel to and from the mainland (Anacortes) on a daily basis.

• Daily passenger service between Anacortes and San Juan County – The operator will provide seven-day-a-week, twice-daily passenger-only service to Lopez, Orcas, San Juan and Anacortes. With one trip in the morning and another in the evening, this service will be structured to provide complete roundtrip service for passengers.

• Emergency interisland passenger service – The operator will provide passenger-only service to Lopez, Orcas and San Juan islands when the WSF interisland boat experiences service disruptions. These services will be available when the WSF interisland boat is out-of-service and/or service restoration time is either unknown or estimated at greater than four hours. County services will begin within two hours of the WSF disruption. During WSF service disruptions, operators will provide two service runs – one in the morning and one in the evening in an effort to provide complete, roundtrip service for passengers. If the WSF service disruption occurs after 1 p.m., the operator will provide one trip through the route.

• Emergency barge service – The operator will provide emergency barge service between Lopez, Orcas, San Juan and Anacortes when WSF experiences service disruptions. These services will be available when either the WSF interisland service is estimated to be out of service for more than 24 hours or when the WSF mainland service is reduced to fewer than a two-boat schedule. This service is provided for the purpose of meeting critical health, utility and life/safety needs.

Evaluation process

County staff and councilmembers evaluated the proposals based on criteria listed in the RFPs, including the experience and credentials of the service provider, their vessel capacity, cost and the speed at which they can begin services, among other factors.

Next steps

County staff will initiate contract negotiations with the service providers selected by Council and work to establish clear communications on how to utilize the services. The County anticipates launching the pilot project and offering services beginning in mid-April.

During this time, service providers are expected to collect trip and ridership data to support long-term reporting goals for the project. Regular reports will detail the number of trips completed, the number of passengers served and the number of sailings cancelled, among other statistics.

County communications will provide regular updates and links as the operators make services available. 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.