WATER TAXI ALERT: West Seattle, Vashon cancellations later today

Just in from Metro:

King County Water Taxi service will be reduced this afternoon, Wednesday, June 22, on the West Seattle and Vashon routes due to a shortage of available workforce.

The following trips are affected:

Downtown to West Seattle: departures at 5:25 p.m. and 6:05 p.m. are canceled.
West Seattle to downtown: departures at 5:45 p.m. and 6:25 p.m. are canceled.
Downtown to Vashon: the departure at 6:30 p.m. is canceled.
Vashon to Downtown: the departure at 6:58 p.m. is canceled.

Please note: The 5:30 p.m. is the last trip of the day operating from downtown to Vashon. There is also a two-hour gap in scheduled sailings to West Seattle between the 4:45 p.m. trip and the 6:45 p.m. trip and riders are encouraged to consider alternate travel plans.

Other scheduled trips are expected to operate using available crew members.

We’ll update if anything changes.

NW June 22, 2022 (11:13 am)

There is work out there class of 2022 we need your help! Be of service to your home state.

WSEmployer June 22, 2022 (4:00 pm)

I don’t know about you, but I am really getting tired of the old “staffing issues” excuse. We are about to enter a recession, one in which we are probably going to have some job losses, and we cannot find people who want to work? How are people paying their bills or are they just not and waiting for a stimulus, moratorium, bailout, or all of the above?

WSB June 22, 2022 (4:54 pm)

Open jobs are not the only reason some businesses/services pull up short; we’re still in a pandemic. Also a complication for some unfilled positions is the training and certification they require; you can’t just apply today and be a Water Taxi or state ferry crew member tomorrow, for example.
Marina June 22, 2022 (6:13 pm)

Also it’s not like the water taxi is hiring. It’s a pretty hard job to get into. Somebody probably just called out sick (or two somebody’s).
Jay June 23, 2022 (1:46 pm)

It’s not about people not wanting to work, it’s about organizations not being motivated to hire. Low pay, lack of training and support, etc. If someone wants to be a deckhand they have to do extensive training up front, investing significant time and money into this new career. Then they only qualify for a $23/hr salary and have to be on-call 24/7. They also can’t use legal marijuana on their days off. Meanwhile, McDonald’s is hiring at $19/hr with no qualifications and you know your schedule two weeks ahead of time.

Carole June 22, 2022 (6:28 pm)

WSB. Don’t discourage us.

Herongrrrl June 22, 2022 (9:53 pm)

Want reliable ferry crews? Support Seattle College’s Maritime Academy! It takes a LOT of training to be licensed to work on any kind of commercial vessel, and Seattle Maritime Academy is one of the training programs threatened by Seattle Colleges budget issues.

Sorry, comment time is over.