Update: King County Water Taxi day 1 sets a ridership record

(WSB photo from 8:50 am run this morning, looking back toward West Seattle)
3,429 riders yesterday, is the word we just got — “a new record,” per the Water Taxi’s announcement on Twitter. (Our coverage from Sunday, with photos and video, can be found here.)

I had heard April 6, 2009 (10:14 am)

That’s GREAT! I love seeing the Water Taxi being used.

old timer April 6, 2009 (10:54 am)

Weren’t all rides free?
I’m sure the facility would get great use if the
fare was free all the time.

WSB April 6, 2009 (11:23 am)

Yes, that’s been the case on kickoff day for at least a few years. But even in context – I am still looking for 2008 kickoff # but for 2007, for example, it was about a thousand less. So if nothing else, it’s a relative gauge of interest – TR

ken April 6, 2009 (11:27 am)

WOW- That’s almost 115 per boat. I didn’t know they could hold that many.

WSB April 6, 2009 (11:33 am)

They increased the capacity in time for the Freeway Fright ’07 commute concerns (if you forgot what that was all about, relive the coverage thru this WSB archive category
https://westseattleblog.com/blog/?cat=40
)
I believe allowed capacity is now 200+ per run.

Karl April 6, 2009 (12:13 pm)

WSB – Is it possible to request a passenger count per trip from yesterday? The 11:00 a.m. inbound trip had far less than 200 (max) or 115 (avg)passengers.

nudibranch April 6, 2009 (12:30 pm)

I was on the 9 am boat ride (from WS) and there were maybe 10 people on the boat. However, the 12:30 ride back was packed with standing room only.

Karl April 6, 2009 (1:05 pm)

Who generated these numbers? I saw an Argosy employee with a rotary clicker counter as I boarded. Hopefully, there was an “independent” source.

WT April 6, 2009 (1:13 pm)

ken-

3,429 passengers over 22 sailings => more than 155 on average per sailing. That’s far more than an average of 115 per trip.

If we assume the first two round trips (four sailings) were not utilized much, as Karl suggests above, then the average starts to approach 200 passengers per sailing for the remaining sailings.

According to the staff, the vessel can hold a maximum of 249 passengers, plus crew.

Given the near-capacity operation, I hope everyone was able to board on the last sailings. I’d be a bummer if there weren’t enough space to accommodate all passengers for the last trip of the day.

Amazon April 6, 2009 (1:28 pm)

When I road in the afternoon, they were maxing-out at 249 passengers and turning away people (who appeared to typically be willing to wait AN HOUR for the next ride) at each stop.