King County Water Taxi: 2 months’ extra money for this year

From Linda Robson in King County Councilmember Jan Drago‘s office:

(T)he Ferry District Board of Supervisors today approved extending the West Seattle Water Taxi service through November and December this year. That’s about a $250,000 addition to the budget. This gets us one step closer to being able to offer year-round service for West Seattle residents, who are going to really start feeling the impacts of all the big road projects in that area, including the Spokane Street Viaduct work and the first phase of the Alaskan Way Viaduct work.

This would be, we’re told, for the “commute hours only.” Part if not all of the money would come from dollars set aside for maintenance that now will be funded from a federal grant.

10 Replies to "King County Water Taxi: 2 months' extra money for this year"

  • sna July 26, 2010 (8:03 pm)

    Ridership has been strong during the past week since the lane closure occurred on the West Seattle Freeway. This will be an important alternate route for the next few years.

  • Lorelee July 26, 2010 (10:41 pm)

    Thank you!

  • lina rose July 26, 2010 (10:52 pm)

    yes, seemed like there were a lot of commuters on the evening ferry tonight. Some tourists but more folks that actually looked they were heading back from work. yay! I hope ridership stays strong and more folks commute on it so that it can show it’s worth as a viable commuting method.

  • Greg July 27, 2010 (8:36 am)

    How does the water taxi fit in with the rest of our transportation system as far as fairs go? If I stopped parking at work they will give me a bus pass, Orca card I think. I am wondering if it works on the ferries and those shuttle busses that travel to the Morgan junction to take people to the water taxi.

    Generally, I guess I am just wondering if the trains, buses, water taxi and ferries are all separate or not. Seems like it would be a nice deal to have them all under one ‘roof’ as far as a pass-card goes. I know my bus transfer doesn’t work on the Southworth ferry anyway :-)

  • MattS July 27, 2010 (9:00 am)

    @Greg I have an unlimited Orca card through work and it allows me to ride passenger on ferries as well as light rail, water taxi, sounder, etc… Not sure if those were perks added by my company but it works on all the transportation options around the sound I have used.

  • AM July 27, 2010 (9:10 am)

    i’m pretty positive the orca card works on the water taxi. Last time i was there, the guy collecting fairs was asking who had orca cards. Love the water taxi, happy to see it’s going to be in service longer this year!

  • Tom P. July 27, 2010 (10:17 am)

    Love the water taxi, hate the huge fare increase when they stopped accepting monthly passes. Yes you can use Orca, it will cost you three bucks each way (six bucks round trip).

  • miws July 27, 2010 (1:22 pm)

    Yes, ORCA is accepted on the Water Taxi. When I rode a couple months ago, the deckhand that was collecting fares had a little hand scanner that he scanned my ORCA Card with.

    .

    Greg, please note though, that currently, the shuttle servicing the Junction (#774?) only runs down to the Morgan Junction midday, weekdays.

    .

    Mike

  • JayDee July 27, 2010 (6:09 pm)

    To clarify:

    There are two flavors of ORCA cards–The e-purse version and the passport or unlimited version. The e-purse ORCA is charged -$3 when you use it, and you have to toss in an extra $0.75 to ride. The unlimited (Passport?) version lets you ride without having to toss in $0.75.

    Which version you end up with depends on your employer and the deal they make with Metro/KingCo.

  • ljbw July 28, 2010 (12:39 pm)

    What about parking? There is not alot of curbside parking available. You have to get up pretty early in the morning to grab a place to park. There is little space for those who live here, people who work here and the commuters as well to park on the street.

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