More trouble for West Seattle Water Taxi vessel Rachel Marie

(WSB photo of Rachel Marie, from last month)>
7:53 PM: Just in from King County:

Over the weekend, the Water Taxi crew discovered a small crack in the hull plating of the Rachel Marie. The King County Marine Division has made arrangements to use another vessel, the Victoria Express, while the Rachel Marie is being repaired. The Victoria Express is a mono-hulled vessel of similar passenger capacity to the Rachel Marie and Melissa Ann, but it travels at slightly slower speeds and its length is better suited for the Vashon dock than the Seacrest dock in West Seattle. So beginning on Monday, June 6, the Victoria Express will be put into service on the Vashon Island/Downtown Seattle route, and the Melissa Ann will provide service on the West Seattle/Downtown Seattle route.

ADDED 8:09 PM: The issue of a backup vessel is one the county had been working on since other recent problems that pulled the Rachel Marie out of service, according to Michelle Allison from the office of King County Councilmember Joe McDermott (who is King County Ferry District board chair). We had also asked her recently about the status of the plan for the county eventually to have new boats built for the West Seattle and Vashon runs:

We recently wrapped up an expert review panel and expect the final report soon. This was an important step for us in discussing what elements our new boats should include – the number of passengers, technical specifications, etc. Once the Board receives the final report, they will spend some time reviewing and then they will develop the detailed procurement documents needed to secure a builder.

Background on the RM and its recent history of trouble, ahead:

The Rachel Marie and sister ship Melissa Ann are leased by the county but belong to Four Seasons Marine Services, as reported here when we took a closer look at the RM before it took over West Seattle-Downtown Seattle service.

They were built by Nichols Brothers shipyard on Whidbey Island in 1988 as foot ferries for a missile-tracking station in the Pacific, and the RM had also traveled routes in Honolulu and Juneau before coming here and starting King County service in April of last year.

Its trouble since then has included the September 2010 crash into the downtown seawall, which put it out of service for more than three months; a hull fracture discovered in March; repairs for a “defective weld” in April; and a mechanical problem last month.

NaboCane June 5, 2011 (8:55 pm)

Oh, Argosy…how we miss you.

Fiona June 5, 2011 (8:56 pm)

Give us back the old water taxi, it was reliable and had the best outside deck!

Eric June 5, 2011 (10:18 pm)

And the old one was slow and they could barely dock it…

Caprial June 5, 2011 (11:21 pm)

This is too sad to be funny. Considering the finances of the ferry system for the Water Taxi (go ahead, look it up) you would think they would have this on-going situation’s backup prepared and ready to go into service at the first sign of a problem. But no……. Pathetic.

Alki Area June 6, 2011 (7:40 am)

@Eric

Slow? I seem to remember roughly the same time crossing. If you mean 30 minutes vs 25, who cares. I don’t think EITHER boat actually goes “full speed” through the super busy inner harbor. :)

They didn’t have the fancy new pier in West Seattle, but I never once saw any problem docking it…every time I ever got on it just went from here to there and I got off, no drama, no breakdowns, no issues. It just worked.

I’m NOT blaming the crew (the current crew seems great), but mostly the boat seems to suck. I think they got a lemon.

GoGo June 6, 2011 (9:27 am)

And you could take your dogs onboard. Can’t do that now, right?

Gina June 6, 2011 (11:47 am)

Took 10 minutes to cross this morning.

The Admiral Pete used to take about 40 minutes to cross.

Lorelee June 6, 2011 (8:10 pm)

I love the water taxi as a commute
Option. Takes 10 min from dock to dock. This repair need doesn’t affect service at all,
As you can read, they have a backup. PS-Salty’s should pay half the cost of this things operation. Half the boat is filled with tourists going to Saltys for dinner.

Angela C. June 7, 2011 (2:18 pm)

Why don’t more people use the water Taxi service?
I’ve recently discovered the absolute joy of taking the water Taxi to Pier 50 and just don’t get why people don’t use the service more, or why they complain about it. If more people used it – they’d have more to invest in repairing and maintaining these well-used Cats.
The water Taxi is awesome. I repeat, awesome. I look forward to my commute to downtown because this mode exists. I loathe taking the bus, therefore I’d usually car pool or get dropped off. Then it dawned on me – the water Taxi! Why not try it – I’m hooked now that I have. It’s brilliant.
If I wanted to get carried away, I’d say we should have more water Taxis – multiples running every 10 minutes, multiple docks on each end just shuttling commuters like lightening during peak transit hours. We’ve been looking for a transit solution – we’ve already proven that a ferry works as a good option, so why not really push passenger ferries at peak times of the day to cut down on the gridlock we’re experiencing?
Sitting on an open deck or in a well-loved interior area doesn’t matter to me because the trip is over before any real time has passed. Who cares if the boat is a little run-down. Ever taken the subway in New York, or the BART in San Francisco? Those things are well-used and people absolutely rely upon them as their life-lines to and from work on a daily basis, regardless of what they look like – I can guarantee you they’re sitting on them longer than 10 minutes too.
The Taxi is efficient, on time, has room for 18 bikes and lots of people (80?) and is less than 10 minutes to downtown. If we don’t support this type of commuting – as it stands – we’re going to be in a world of hurt once they figure out what they’re going to do with 99, and remove yet another lane from its capacity or worse, remove parts of it altogether completely shutting us down.
So spread the word! Encourage people to use this option! Free shuttle people! Runs every 30 minutes! Who knows, if we increase demand, maybe they’ll be able to run a Taxi every 15 minutes – then we’ll really be happy. :)

William June 7, 2011 (6:49 pm)

Is the “expert review panel” that is creating the latest report the same “experts” that put together the current ferry program that have never worked as well as the old pre-ferry district water taxi? Maybe Joe McDermott and his staff need to drill down a little deeper.

Angela June 7, 2011 (10:47 pm)

Why don’t more people use the water Taxi service?

I’ve recently discovered the absolute joy of taking the water Taxi to Pier 50 and just don’t get why people don’t use the service more, or why they complain about it. If more people used it – they’d have more to invest in repairing and maintaining these well-used Cats.

The water Taxi is awesome. I repeat, awesome. I look forward to my commute to downtown because this mode exists.
I loathe taking the bus, therefore I’d usually car pool or get dropped off. Then it dawned on me – the water Taxi! Why not try it – I’m hooked now that I have. It’s brilliant.
If I wanted to get carried away, I’d say we should have more water Taxis – multiples running every 10 minutes, multiple docks on each end just shuttling commuters like lightening during peak transit hours. We’ve been looking for a transit solution – we’ve already proven that a ferry works as a good option, so why not really push passenger ferries at peak times of the day to cut down on the gridlock we’re experiencing?
Sitting on an open deck or in a well-loved interior area doesn’t matter to me because the trip is over before any real time has passed. Who cares if the boat is a little run-down. Ever taken the subway in New York, or the BART in San Francisco? Those things are well-used and people absolutely rely upon them as their life-lines to and from work on a daily basis, regardless of what they look like – I can guarantee you they’re sitting on them longer than 10 minutes too.
The Taxi is efficient, on time, has room for 18 bikes and lots of people (80?) and is less than 10 minutes to downtown. If we don’t support this type of commuting – as it stands – we’re going to be in a world of hurt once they figure out what they’re going to do with 99, and remove yet another lane from its capacity or worse, remove parts of it altogether completely shutting us down.
So spread the word! Encourage people to use this option! Free shuttle people! Runs every 30 minutes! Who knows, if we increase demand, maybe they’ll be able to run a Taxi every 15 minutes – then we’ll really be happy. :)

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