(Photo taken on a low-tide day during the Water Taxi’s recordsetting June)
Just in from King County Council Chair Dow Constantine‘s office:

The King County Water Taxi had another record month in June, with a total of 33,865 riders carried by the popular West Seattle-to-downtown passenger-only ferry.

The ridership represents an increase of 12.7 percent over June 2008, in which 30,046 passengers rode the Water Taxi. The year-to-date Water Taxi ridership is 85,784, as compared with 59,386 at the end of June 2008.

The Water Taxi also continued its MVP role for Mariners baseball fans returning home after games—a total of 410 people rode the four boats from Pier 55 to West Seattle’s Seacrest Park following the Mariners’ matinee (1:40 p.m. start time) win over the San Diego Padres.

“Mariners fans are a big part of our loyal Water Taxi ridership and we are happy to give them the opportunity to skip the traffic jams and take a relaxing ride home after the game,” said County Council Chair Dow Constantine, who also serves as chair of the King County Ferry District Board. “We will work to replicate the success of our West Seattle route as the King County Ferry District adds demonstration service on other routes on Puget Sound and Lake Washington.”

The King County Water Taxi will be running on a Saturday schedule on both Friday, July 3, and Saturday, July 4. This means the first sailing from Pier 55 will be at 8:30 a.m. both days and the first sailing from West Seattle at 9:00 a.m. The last boat will leave Pier 55 at 10:30 p.m. and West Seattle at 11:00 p.m. For a complete sailing schedule, visit www.kingcounty.gov/transportation/kcdot/Marine/WaterTaxi/WestSeattle-DowntownSeattle/Schedule.aspx