Hi Weenies! Here's a tip you might like to know about, on getting to Port Townsend via public transport (from Seattle anyway), by taking a ferry and a couple of rural county transit buses. It's surprisingly nice, cheap, friendly, and has good connections. They even have a luggage rack for instruments and bags. (You probably aren't bringing a bicycle, but they can carry that too, on the front of the bus. The bike racks really win my heart though, as you can guess from the picture to the left.
)
Here's the itinerary from Seattle to Port Townsend's Fort Worden:
1. Take the ferry from downtown Seattle to Bainbridge Island ($5.70). The ferry debarks from Pier 52, Marion St & Alaskan Way, south end of downtown, on the water of course. (35-minute ride, spectacular scenery)
2. Once on the Bainbridge Island side of Puget Sound, catch the Kitsap Transit #90 bus ($1) from the ferry to Poulsbo Transfer Center. (matched connection, 24-minute ride)
3. From there, pick up the Jefferson Transit #7 bus ($1.25, get a transfer) to the Port Townsend Park & Ride. (5-minute connection, 64-minute ride)
4. Catch the Jefferson Transit #12 (Fort Worden) bus (free w/your transfer, see above) to Fort Worden. (connection varies, 30-minute ride)?
On Sundays there are just two fully linked trips: Either start out on the
10:40am ferry (then Kitsap bus at 11:15am, Jefferson bus at 11:40am, and Ft Worden bus at 1:09pm),
or the 2:05pm ferry (then Kitsap bus at 3:10pm, Jefferson bus at 3:40pm, and Ft Worden bus at 5:09pm).
On Saturdays there are also two options -- starting with the 9:35am and the 3pm ferry. On weekdays there are lots more, 6:10am, 9:35am, 11:25am, 3:45pm, and 5:30pm.
My and KC's friend Mark has all of this and more details in this nice (Acrobat/.pdf) file:
http://www.mrkland.com/trav/transit/PT.pdf.
Anyway, hope this helps. It's one of the region's better-kept secrets. It took me living in this area for quite a while before I 'discovered' these linked transit routes and realized you don't need a car to get to wonderful Port Townsend!!
See you on the ferry and the bus (and in Port Townsend),
Emma Lee
(and KC King)
