In 2004, Kitsap Transit engaged a research team to investigate the feasibility of restoring passenger-only ferry service in Rich Passage. The project involved five elements:

• collecting physical and biological data
• modeling wake wash interaction with natural processes and shoreline structures
• testing and selecting an optimal design for a low-wake vessel
• building and validating a prototype low-wake, high-speed research vessel (Rich Passage 1)
• communicating the research to the community throughout the course of the study

In 2012 Kitsap Transit conducted a test service over the course of about four months to evaluate the feasibility of a passenger-only service. Once the test sailings and feasibility analysis was complete, the research phase of the project was over. The scientists had demonstrated the feasibility of operating a high-speed, low-wake vessel through Rich Passage without causing discernible harm to the shorelines.

Monitoring Phase

Since 2013 the research team has continued to monitor the beaches in Rich Passage twice a year to provide Kitsap Transit with vital baseline data on the impact of both natural processes and the gradual increase in the frequency of fast-ferry sailings.

• In 2016 Kitsap County voters approved Kitsap Transit’s proposed sales tax increase to support a fast-ferry service. The Bremerton/Seattle fast-ferry service launched a one-boat service in July 2017.
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• In the fall of 2019 Kitsap Transit tested a two-boat service for four weeks. The research team determined the two-boat service did not have a measurable impact on the beaches, and in 2020 Kitsap Transit commenced a two-boat service.