(September photo by Carolyn Newman)
When the new West Seattle Water Taxi, M/V Doc Maynard, was dedicated back in September, it was expected to take over the route this month. So we just checked in with the King County Department of Transportation to see how soon that’ll happen. Spokesperson Rochelle Ogershok tells WSB that installation of the “new boarding ramp and other improvements to accommodate the larger vessel” are expected to start at Seacrest Pier this Saturday (December 5th) and are likely to last about two weeks. Then, she adds, “After the work is completed, our crews will begin testing and training on the route. That will take about two weeks. So we would expect the Doc Maynard to start operating the West Seattle run in early January.” Ogershok says the installation work will not affect regularly scheduled Water Taxi operations; this time of year, the route runs weekdays only, am and pm commute times.