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Plastics are the future, someone once said, and in the case of Washington State Ferries, they’re about to come with a fee.
Beginning March 1, a 3% fee will be charged on credit and debit cards used to buy ferry fares. The charge won’t apply to people who use ORCA cards or cash.
That means if someone drives a typical car onto a Seattle-Bainbridge Island sailing and pays with a credit or debit card, their $19.70 fare will come to $20.29.
The new fee was included in the 2025-27 state transportation budget approved by lawmakers last year as a way to recover the cost of processing card payments. The 3% fee will apply to all in-person, kiosk and online fare purchases, including single-ride and multi-ride tickets.
Ferry officials estimate the card fee will bring in $7.4 million over two years.
The fee is part of a slate of cost increases for ferry users in the state transportation budget.
Legislators, through the budget, directed WSF to generate $408.8 million from fares over two years, which represents about 53% of the agency’s operating costs.
To help meet that goal, in August the Washington State Transportation Commission approved fare increases, boosted the summer season surcharge to 35% on all routes, increased the per-fare vessel replacement surcharge to $1 per ticket and, on a trial basis beginning in May, extended multi-ride passes to 120 days. Those passes currently expire after 90 days.
The fare hikes alone are estimated to bring in $412.3 million.
The new card fee, however, isn’t intended to generate revenue, but simply cover existing costs.
Fares paid by credit cards are estimated to represent 82% of farebox revenue, meaning that of all the money that comes from fares, the vast majority comes from credit cards. And every time someone uses a card, the state pays a fee to the card company.
This money will not go toward the operating budget but is aimed at recouping the card fees.
The card fee won’t apply for memorial services, annual business accounts or promotional activities film or photo shoots, according to the agency. If a transaction paid for by card is refunded, the 3% fee will also be refunded.
The fee is specific to WSF, and not related to this month’s introduction of contactless payment for many of the regional transit agencies in the ORCA fare system. Most of these transit providers will allow passengers to pay by tapping their credit card or smartphone on the ORCA card reader.
WSF is not one of the agencies that will allow such payment.