Ferry service to the San Juan Islands was provided by a variety of companies and operators in the early 20th century. On April 26, 1922, the Anacortes–Sidney route was inaugurated on two converted steamships and later ran three daily sailings. The
Puget Sound Navigation Company later cut the daily sailings to two and moved a midday trip to terminate in
Bellingham instead of Anacortes. The state-owned
Washington State Ferries took control of the routes in 1951 and assigned to the San Juan Islands runs. The international section survived proposed funding cuts in 1977, 1997, 2002, and 2009 that would have suspended or terminated service to Vancouver Island. Among the issues was a reduction in ridership and increased standards for international vessels imposed by the
United States Coast Guard. The system was implemented following a 2009 mandate from the
state legislature as a stopgap measure to control capacity while new vessels and expanded terminals were constructed. The reservations system suffered from website crashes and glitches in its first months, but was received well by local residents. In March 2020, WSF suspended service to Sidney on Vancouver Island due to international travel restrictions imposed by Canada and the United States amid the
COVID-19 pandemic. At the time, seasonal service had been expected to begin on March 29, but was delayed a month—and later indefinitely. A shortage of available maritime workers and vessels prevented service to Sidney from being restored after travel restrictions were lifted in 2021; the shortage also caused "unprecedented" service disruptions to the still-operating San Juan services, where 45 percent of trips from July 2021 to June 2022 were delayed. , the Sidney route is not planned to be restored until 2030 due to vessel availability issues. ==References==