Update: West Seattle Water Taxi idled, ‘mechanical problem’

(EDITOR’S NOTE: We’ll add updates to this story as the morning goes on when new info is available)

8:18 AM: We haven’t officially confirmed it, and no alert has come from the county, but we’ve received two reports now that something is going on with the West Seattle Water Taxi. More to come as soon as we get something confirmed.

8:34 AM UPDATE: Tracy sent a note saying she’s been told it’s out of service for at least two hours. Jim sent the photo we’ve added above, saying it’s in the water south of Seacrest with what he believes is a police boat, lights on, nearby.

9 AM UPDATE: Another photo, from Al, which clearly shows a boat labeled police; SPD isn’t showing anything in the area. A county spokesperson is handling our inquiry but still no official info on what’s going on.

9:07 AM UPDATE: Mechanical problem, Rochelle Ogershok with King County Department of Transportation now confirms. She says they haven’t figured out yet how the schedule will be affected. We’re also asking why the alert system didn’t kick in, since this has been going on for at least an hour and there’s been no text alert for riders to warn them of a problem.

9:42 AM UPDATE: The official text alert has now arrived, saying the boat will be out of service TFN.

not_so_new_now May 12, 2011 (8:33 am)

boat is being monitored by a police boat off seacrest park. shuttle driver said it would be ouit of order until at least 10

BEM May 12, 2011 (9:24 am)

Where is Argosy with the backup?

Megan May 12, 2011 (9:39 am)

While I fully support the Water Taxi, these boats have so many problems! I feel like every week there is something that goes wrong and they have to cancel or delay.

Mark K May 12, 2011 (10:04 am)

I like the Water Taxi and had planned on using it more for my morning commute.
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I’m concerned about the increasing frequency of these problems. Starting on Monday, 99 north will have lane and speed reductions, and at some point we’ll have the viaduct closed. The water taxi could be a viable option to avoid the construction mess. BUT, it has to be working reliably. Like Megan says, it seems like there’s something every week.
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Perhaps the County needs to develop contingency plans, and soon. If they want the Water Taxi to be considered a real commute option, reliability MUST improve.

dmsbeb May 12, 2011 (10:04 am)

How many times has this run been canceled under a County contract versus when an outside agency, Argosy, had the contract? Let’s go back to a reliable agent!

April May 12, 2011 (10:38 am)

I agree with Mark K. My husband and I were going to start taking the water taxi next week for our regular commute, but it seems like it goes out of commission fairly often. I don’t remember that being the case when Argosy used to run it. Ah, the good ol’ days. Lower cost to the riders and reliable. Sigh.

sp May 12, 2011 (11:14 am)

This is such an unreliable means of commuting and a true waste of tax dollars.

pumpkin May 12, 2011 (11:19 am)

Here Here…The Argosy boat never broke down and the Rachel Marie seems to break down about once a month. For those of us who rely on it for our daily commute, it has been frustrating. I too vote for the reliable old boat (with it’s charm) at the old dock site in downtown Seattle. My 2 cents if anyone’s listening.

Gene May 12, 2011 (11:39 am)

Do I recall reading (here?) correctly that the current boat is not the long term solution, and that King County is (eventually) going to have a “new” boat for this run? The speed of the Rachel Marie is nice, but the reliability leaves a lot to be desired.

WSB May 12, 2011 (11:45 am)

Yes. They plan to build new vessels for this run and the Vashon run. Hasn’t gone out to bid etc. yet. These boats had already been workhorses in service elsewhere – there was a run in the South Pacific, for one (we had some more history when the county first took over). – TR

HG May 12, 2011 (11:57 am)

Perhaps instead of Argosy, Greg next door at the Seacrest Alki Kayak rentals could get the contract to provide backup boats as needed for these all too frequent mechanical problems.

Neal Chism May 12, 2011 (12:44 pm)

These boats were used by, of all people, the contractor to the US Army out in the north central Pacific island/atoll of Kwajalein during the big developmental days of Ballistic Missile Defense. Yup, we have a US Army base on Kwaj. out in the middle of the ocean.

Look on the inside of the cabin upstairs of the now Rachel Marie and find the little photo of a missile launching out there. These boats moved the locals and contractors around in between the islands. Also look at some of the original stenciling on hatches and similar equipment. Some of it is still in the language of the Republic of the Marshall Islands.

Maybe she locked up when she got a good look at the big radar ball now in port?

Debbie May 12, 2011 (12:55 pm)

Not sure why, but there are now two water taxis tied up at the downtown pier. Can’t read the names, maybe its fixed?

Neal Chism May 12, 2011 (12:58 pm)

Not to put a hex on this water taxi service or anything, in the nautical world it is bad luck to change a boats’ name.

There is an approved unnaming/renaming procedure to follow. Looks like King County didn’t get the memo, but part of the procedure is to remove all evidence of the previous life of the boat….

I just say’n.

RobertSeattle May 12, 2011 (1:14 pm)

Gondola! :-)

Alki Area May 12, 2011 (1:17 pm)

The water taxi should be turned back over to Argosy, or ANYONE else. I was initially supportive, but it has had NOTHING but problems since the county took it over. They’ve smashed the boat, it’s had nearly weekly mechanical failures. This sucks.

austin May 12, 2011 (1:36 pm)

The worst thing about situations like this is the bus service to seacrest. If you didn’t get a text alert because they failed to send one out for the first two hours of this mess, you’re stuck facing either a mile walk up to buses at luna park or a long wait for a shuttle or bus from seacrest, translating into an hour commute into downtown vs the ten minutes you had planned for. Ever since the county took over it’s been as if somebody is trying to kill the water taxi, slowly. I am certain any individual posting comments here would do a better job operating a foot ferry between harbor ave and downtown than the King County Ferry District.

Scruby Doo May 12, 2011 (3:36 pm)

Hey…is this “Rachel Marie” the Sprint or the Spartan from Kwaj? They were good little boats 40+ years ago!

Noelle May 12, 2011 (4:50 pm)

The old water taxi boat may not have been glamorous, but she was sturdy. I don’t remember it ever having mechanical issues as often as these new catamarans do. I guess I just miss the old boat.

ltfd May 12, 2011 (4:51 pm)

WSB, by the profile in the photo, the Police Boat on scene appears to be Harbor 1, from the Port of Seattle Police Department.
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They were on scene for the transport of the injured diver the other day.

WSB May 12, 2011 (4:59 pm)

Thanks, I couldn’t tell so I asked SPD while I was on the phone w/them about something else. I’ll have to study photos of all of them :) If I hadn’t finally gotten info from the county right about that time, SPD did tell me that their waterborne crew had heard the call, propulsion problem … TR