Bainbridge ferry route to be busy on Labor Day weekend

Washington’s busiest ferry route is going to be bustling again this weekend.

Washington’s busiest ferry route is going to be bustling again this weekend.

That’s the word from Washington State Ferries, who is predicting travel on the ferry system to spike during the upcoming holiday weekend.

Officials said the peak travel time will be on westbound sailings on Friday, Sept. 2, and again on eastbound trips on Monday, Sept. 5 as people return home.

WSF estimates that 125,000 more passengers took a ferry this summer compared to last year, and 317,000 more than in summer 2014.

That trend is expected to continue this Labor Day weekend, with an estimated 90,000 travelers per day boarding a ferry for the last holiday of the summer.

It’s been a busy summer so far, and follows a spring season where ridership numbers have also been on the rise.

State ferries have carried more than 7.4 million people this summer from June to late August, averaging about 80,000 passengers per day across all routes.

Officials said the busiest route this summer has been the Bainbridge Island-Seattle run, which has seen more than 1.9 million passengers during the June to late August timeframe.

The Kingston-Edmonds route has been the second busiest, with more than 1.2 million passengers.