For Kitsap health care workers, ferry schedule changes add new stress to tough days
Before the sun rose each morning, Tracy Soderquist would get on the first state ferry out of Bremerton. At 4:50 a.m., her boat would leave the dock, laden over the last few weeks with mostly construction and health care workers bound for Seattle.
Soderquist’s destination: a 7 a.m. shift in the critical care unit at a Seattle hospital, where she works as a nurse on the front lines in the fight against the coronavirus outbreak.
Ferry ridership has dwindled over the last few weeks, and on March 27, Washington State Ferries announced it would be cutting ferry service roughly in half on Bremerton and Bainbridge Island routes for the foreseeable future, along with a few other changes. At the time, the agency pointed to falling passenger numbers and said that the moves would allow crews to be combined.
Included in the cuts: the 4:50 a.m. sailing Soderquist and other health care workers rely on to get to Seattle on time for their shifts.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/for-kitsap-health-care-workers-ferry-schedule-changes-add-new-stress-to-tough-days/ar-BB12akNG?ocid=hplocalnews