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Getting here and back
Two boats serve Kingston. The Edmonds–Kingston car ferry runs every day and takes about 30 minutes. You can drive on, or walk on without a car. The second boat is a fast ferry for people only — no cars. It goes straight to downtown Seattle in 39 minutes.
Service alerts right now
Details at wsdot.wa.gov/ferries.
Both routes, both directions. Updates every minute while you watch.
Kingston to Edmonds
Live: 171 drive-up car spaces left on the next boat
Peak traffic volumes occur from the first morning departure until 10 AM. For this time period, a 60 minute advance arrival is recommended for vehicle traffic. For non-peak travel, a 20 minute advance arrival is recommended. Passengers should arrive at least 15 minutes prior to sailing.
Edmonds to Kingston
Kingston to Seattle (Pier 50)
Seattle (Pier 50) to Kingston
Schedule times — not live. Watch the boat on the live tracker or confirm on Kitsap Transit’s schedule.
Car ferry: Kingston to Edmonds
Car ferry: Edmonds to Kingston
Fast ferry: Kingston to Seattle
Fast ferry: Seattle to Kingston
Car-ferry times are live from WSDOT. Refreshes every minute while this page is open.
Kingston's SR 104 boarding-pass system, mapped — our take on WSDOT's traffic map.
When the pass is on, join the line from the west, coming down SR 104 via Barber Cutoff Rd— don't U-turn into the line early. Only when the wait tops 2 hours and the line backs up past Barber Cutoff do you go further out to Miller Bay Rd to turn around. Active daily 8 a.m.–8 p.m. through the peak season, plus weekends and holidays. Walk-ons, cyclists, and motorcycles skip it entirely; medical-preference vehicles go straight to the tollbooths. Adapted from WSDOT's announcement.
Live positions of the Edmonds–Kingston ferries, like WSDOT's VesselWatch.
Live vessel positions from WSDOT, refreshed every 20 seconds.Full map with every route on WSDOT VesselWatch.
Walking on is cheaper, skips the car line entirely, and always gets a spot.
Parking on the Edmonds side — where a car can stay, and where it gets towed →
Kitsap Transit's passenger-only fast ferry: Kingston to downtown in 39 minutes.
The fare really is direction-based — cheap heading to Seattle, more coming back. Pay with ORCA, a contactless credit/debit tap, cash, or the Transit GO Ticket app.
Watch the boat in real time on the Kitsap Transit ferry tracker or check the full schedule.
Paying for the ferry
You can pay at the Kingston toll booths with a card — Visa, Mastercard, American Express, or Discover — or with an ORCA transit card. Card payments add a 3% fee, and have since March 2026. To avoid that fee, tap an ORCA card you loaded with money somewhere other than a ferry terminal. Best of all: walking onto the boat in Kingston is free. Fares are only collected on the Edmonds side, so most walk-on visitors pay nothing at the dock. A Good To Go! pass is for highway tolls only. It will not pay for the ferry.
Driving on? In the busy season — every day from 8 am to 8 pm, plus weekends and holidays — you need a vehicle boarding pass from the SR 104 line. Take one from the machine near Lindvog Rd. You do not need a pass if you are walking on, riding a bike, or riding a motorcycle.
Full payment details: WSF ticket information.
Sources: WSF — ticket information (3% card surcharge) · WSDOT Blog — Smoother Sailing in Kingston: the new SR 104 boarding-pass system
Summer holiday weekends are the car ferry’s worst stretch, and Kingston sits at the center of it. Expect multi-hour vehicle lines in both directions. Walk on if you possibly can.
Heading west to the Olympic Peninsula? SR 104 crosses the Hood Canal Bridge about 14 miles from town, and drawspan openings for boat traffic can stop the highway for 45+ minutes with little warning. Check the bridge status on wsdot.wa.gov before you commit to the drive.
Both boats change timetables with the seasons. The fast ferry’s Saturday service ends in mid-September, and WSF shifts to its fall schedule around then too. Planning past Labor Day? Re-check times first.
Two good routes — and on Sundays, Edmonds is the only one.
Downtown to downtown in 39 minutes: $13 out, $2 back, kids free. Weekdays and summer Saturdays only — no Sunday boats, and the last weekday departure from Seattle is 6:45 PM.
Sounder trains and Amtrak Cascades stop at Edmonds Station, right beside the ferry dock; Community Transit buses stop nearby too. Walk on for $11.35— that covers the whole round trip, since boarding in Kingston is free. And it works on Sundays, when the fast ferry doesn’t run.
Summer 2026 rates, checked July 2026 — WSF usually adjusts fares each October. Confirm at WSDOT’s Edmonds–Kingston fare page.
Driving onto the ferry?
The overhead signs at SR 104 and Barber Cutoff Rd flash when Kingston's boarding-pass system is on. If they are flashing, follow the signs into the ferry lane. Take a pass from the machine near Lindvog Rd. Then wait for a green light before you drive up to the toll booths.
The pass system runs every day from 8 am to 8 pm in the busy summer season, and on weekends and holidays. You do not need a pass if you are walking on, riding a bike, or riding a motorcycle.
Boarding pass on — routing you to the back of the SR-104 line via Barber Cutoff (not the dock). Don't U-turn early.
see the line map