Mukilteo Ferry Terminal — Local services in Mukilteo

It's a pretty building and the landscaping is just right for the region. However, from a purely functional perspective this have to be one of the lowest return-on-investment user experiences of any transportation facility in Washington. There is no way to escape the parking lot. In the past we could pop out to Ivar's or Diamond Knot but now there is no safe way to get real food when you're waiting in the lot. Now there are vending machines and MORE vending machines. You can't go to the beach while you wait either. This place was designed as a cage by people who rarely rode a ferry. There are probably 'service theft' and security considerations that took precedence over user enjoyment. Driving off in Mukilteo you have to make a blind right hand turn and there are barely even stripes to tell you where to go. So many times I've seen drivers go the wrong way. Offloading vehicles should have been routed directly onto 1st street rather than taking up the valuable waterfront area with a long double lane for the offloading vehicles. This would also have increased lot capacity. There is also no dedicated HOV lane. Waiting in the parking lot, particularly if you're elderly or disabled, it can be impossible to get to the bathrooms. We spent $187 million to build this moderately functional (though attractive and apparently energy efficient) facility. Typical Washington State DOT disconnect between requirements and budget. Classic example of how this design fails is watching a mom with a stroller wearing high heels try to purchase tickets upstairs when two of the elevators were broken. Suffice to say that there are too many moving parts and simple would have been better from a user...

Lovely view of the sound, really confusing and unintuitive signage/boarding directions, especially if you’re visiting from out of town. You need to avoid the inclination to turn left into the gate from the left lane (like you would at any other US intersection) and stay in the right lane and wait through 10+ minutes of traffic signal changes. We made the mistake of (after waiting for 10+ minutes) following someone who “jumped” the line, thinking maybe they knew something we didn’t. Well, I guess they knew to answer “yes” to the booth operator’s question about medical priority, bc our honest but dumb selves answered “no” and were made to feel egregiously small and stupid by the grey ponytailed operator who told us to go way to the back of the line. I slightly cheated in getting back in line as I thought it was dumb to be punished for something we had no way to know about, and was smart enough to not go back through the same booth gate, but ended up with an operator who now gave us a hard time for going into the middle of the line vs. the very end. I once again tried to explain that we were very much from out of town etc. etc. and finally in exasperation asked if he was going to punish us again. He finally tried to joke about it and waved us through, but dear lord I haven’t been made to feel like such an idiot in a loooooong time. It’s the kind of behavior I’d expect service workers to dish out in a big city like NYC, not the local ferry to an island off the supposedly...

Friday night, I was in a hurry to catch the last ferry. I left early enough, counted out my money first, and broke zero laws, making it still 11 minutes till the departure... Oh, but wait, none of that matters because I did the unthinkable and paid with half change! Now, this is something I've never even done before, but it was an emergency, and at that moment, all I had... In my head, it was still money and in the correct amount, so it's all good to go, right? No, sir, the gentleman I had the displeasure of paying was the absolute rudest employee I've ever had to deal with when taking the mukilteo ferry. I knew how mad he was from his first few comments. And then I apologize, and then I apologize. And then he proceeds to say In a very mean just plain disrespectful tone "you're just like a 15-year-old apologizing. Just never do it again, you understand?" Then continues mumbling under his breath as he aggressively handed the change to me I accidentally counted over. He repeated to me several times all the issues he had with me, so at the end i wa sunk pretty far down in my seat because that was one of the most uncomfortable and disrespected I've ever felt just trying to take a boat home. The 2 stars are for the employees i saw with a smile, just doing...