Kitsap Transit also runs passenger-only "fast ferries" service on the route.

Before ferry service, the route was served by steamships and steamboats, such as the Inland Flyer.

The sternwheeler Bailey Gatzert, once considered one of the most prestigious vessels to operate on Puget Sound and the Columbia River, was converted to an automobile ferry and as such became the first ferry to run on the Seattle-Bremerton route.

[1] Another vessel to run on the route was the unique "streamlined" ferry Kalakala.

From 1986 to 2002, Washington State Ferries operated passenger-only service on the Bremerton route using specialized high-speed boats.