Ferries from Fauntleroy

Washington State Ferries' own planning documents say the quiet part out loud: Fauntleroy does not meet the agency's standard for vehicle holding capacity. The terminal moved 1.74 million vehicles and 1.33 million walk-on passengers in 2019, and the queue for them forms on a residential street.

Where the ferries go

• Vashon Island — about 20 minutes, 62 sailings.
• Southworth on the Kitsap Peninsula — about 40 minutes, 44 sailings.

208 active sailings — the busiest terminal in our Washington data. Operated by Washington State Ferries.

⚠ The queue is the problem, not the boat

WSF's standard is holding capacity of 1.5 times a vessel's car-carrying capacity. Fauntleroy does not meet it, and neither do Vashon or Southworth — the other two corners of the same route. Traffic backs up past the tollbooth and out onto Fauntleroy Way SW, where officers direct it during busy periods.

Arriving "in good time" here means something different from other terminals. If the lanes are full, you are queuing in a neighbourhood, not in a terminal.

The Triangle

Fauntleroy, Vashon and Southworth are worked as one interlocking route rather than two shuttles. A sailing may run Fauntleroy–Vashon–Southworth–Fauntleroy, which means the vessel at the dock is not necessarily going where you are.

Check the destination board. On a route with 208 sailings the next boat is rarely far away, but the wrong one costs you a full triangle.

What is being done

The terminal is being replaced — the trestle and transfer span under SR 160 — and the intersection with Fauntleroy Way SW is being rebuilt for pedestrians, cyclists and buses as well as cars. Southworth is getting a new building on the same programme.

Getting here

West Seattle, at the foot of SW Barton Street. King County Metro buses serve the terminal directly, and walking on avoids the entire queuing problem — which is why a third of the traffic through here is on foot.