Never underestimate the ability of an entrenched bureaucrat to create a situation that wil get the public screaming for relief. IMO- the ferry system does nothing that is not politically driven in some regard. It's part of the culture and funding technique of the system and has been since day one. The state took over the system from Blackball under sketchy circumstances.
Do you ever wonder why the BI run is the best run in the system? How many people on BI have political connections opposed to the PT-Keystone run. The reason the Bremerton ferry runs were origianlly slowed down thru Rich Passage was political to get enough votes to pass a ferry budget at the time the system was running out of money.
I have no doubts the timing of pulling the ferry off PT was politcal. Never underestimate a bureaucrat's willingness to hold the ridership hostage to get what they want.
As a side note - I've been riding the boats most of my life and commuted to Seattle for 7/1/2 years on the Brem run, so have a bit of an interest and history with the system.