Kitsap Transit announced Tuesday their plans to operate a regular two-boat schedule on the Bremerton to Seattle fast ferry route starting Monday, Feb. 24.

The new schedule will offer 24 sailings daily on weekdays — 10 in the morning and 14 in the afternoon — during peak commute hours. The sailings operated by the second vessel will be filled on a walk-up basis and won’t accept reservations. Reservations will continue to be accepted on those sailings on which they’re used today, according to Kitsap Transit Executive Director John Clauson.

“We have used a reservation system to manage the supply-demand imbalance ever since we launched fast-ferry service in 2017,” he said. “Now with the addition of more capacity to the route, we are giving customers the ability to use our service without having to book ahead.”

Last summer, KT took delivery of two more Rich passage-class vessels, the Reliance and Lady Swift. Unlike Rich Passage 1, these vessels use a wet exhaust system that measurably reduces the noise emitted as they travel on the water, the release states. All three vessels have a capacity of 118 passengers.

The Bremerton fast ferry service carried 301,531 passengers in 2019, with an average of 25,128 passengers per month, which is a seven-percent increase from 2018 when it carried 281,860 passengers and an average of 23,488 passengers per month.

To view the new two-boat Bremerton to Seattle fast ferry schedule, visit kitsaptransit.com/service/foot-ferry/bremerton-two-boat-test.