West Seattle Water Taxi update: Canceled for the rest of the day

| King County Water Taxi | West Seattle news

Just in from King County Department of Transportation:

West Seattle-Downtown Seattle Water Taxi service has been canceled for the remainder of the day due to a mechanical problem. Metro DART shuttles 773 and 775 are operating on their regular schedules.

An update about tomorrow’s Water Taxi service will be provided this evening. Please monitor service alerts, check the Water Taxi web site, kingcounty.gov/watertaxi, or call the Water Taxi information line at 206-684-1551.

Metro Route 37 provides service between downtown Seattle and Alki during commute hours. Visit www.kingcounty.gov/metro or call the Metro Customer Information Office at 206-553-3000 for trip planning information.

And of course we’ll have an update here once the outlook for tomorrow is made public. We first reported the problems with the Water Taxi shortly after 8 this morning, thanks to WSB’ers who called/texted/e-mailed, and that was more than an hour before official alerts were issued. If you have news to share, 206-293-6302 any time (other ways to contact us are listed here).

Caprial May 12, 2011 (5:59 pm)

Wow, imagine that. Another day of “Water Taxi Down”.

JW May 12, 2011 (6:08 pm)

Again? I can’t remember a time they’ve had to cancel so often. How can we handle “the big squeeze” without reliable public transit?

malcolm May 12, 2011 (6:27 pm)

If there is no water taxi tomorrow, I can offer catwoman a ride on my raft ( its homemade, but semi safe ) Kitty’ what kind of beer would you like for the sailing? P.S: don’t tell redblack

Paul May 12, 2011 (7:46 pm)

This reflects on our leaders…vote independents!

Caprial May 12, 2011 (7:51 pm)

It will be interesting to find out what caused the problem. It was also wierd to see the Port of Seattle police boat go racing toward the water taxi with its lights going to stand by.

Mark May 12, 2011 (8:43 pm)

Am I correct that this is now run by King County instead of privately operated? It would be interesting to compare the canceled runs in private operation versus government.

eileen May 12, 2011 (8:52 pm)

The boats are on long term lease – maybe the county should consider terminating the lease and getting different boats?

I know there was some information gathering sessions with riders back in December and they mentioned the possibility of getting more fuel efficient boats.

Although they have had some problems, the Rachel Marie/Melissa Ann are much faster and have added many additional runs between WS and downtown compared to when it was Argosy run.

Sna May 12, 2011 (11:00 pm)

Give it back to Argosy. It’s 1/3 the cost and more reliable.

nate May 12, 2011 (11:26 pm)

I would just like to point out two things in support of the King County employees and the ferry district in general.
First, the comparison of the reliability of the KC-Water Taxi versus the Argosy-run water taxi is an apples to oranges comparison. It is not true that the Sightseer was more reliable than the RM. There were numerous occasions when the Sightseer was out of service, but Argosy had 3 other boats capable of filling in for the Sightseer on a moment’s notice. Also, the reliability of the RM compared to the Sightseer from a scheduling perspective is far superior. If the KCWT is scheduled to leave pier 50 at 5:15, then you are GUARANTEED to be at Seacrest at 5:25… no question. The Argosy-run Sightseer was regularly 20 to 30 minutes behind schedule during the summer months. For people who have meetings to attend in the AM and families to attend to in the PM this reliability is critical.
Second, the cost comparisons between the Argosy and the KCFD are completely inaccurate. The reason that Argosy appears to be operating so much more efficiently is because the accounting methods are different and because they employ a different caliber of employee. The monthly costs that Argosy incurred reflect the fact that they already own a fleet of vessels. Obviously, it will cost more to provide a service if you are required to lease or purchase a vessel (or two), that if you already have multiple vessels in your fleet. The employees that King County employs are not comparable to those of Argosy. Period. Just this week one of the deckhands spent 10 minutes in the bay saving a distressed diver. Last summer another deckhand rescued a man from the water under pier 50. On my frequent trips across the Elliott Bay, the Agrosy crew mentioned to me how they were looking forward to quitting the summer jobs… which is what Argosy was for many of them. It’s just not the same.

Michael May 13, 2011 (2:55 am)

The real problem is that there isn’t any kind of backup boat…oh, that’s right, the WS Water Taxi is the backup when the Vashon Water Taxi goes down – so no matter which boat is broken, West Seattle folks just have to find another way out/home.
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It’s just a shame it’s not reliable, especially at a time when people would like to rely on it.
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I get it in small towns where there’s one old boat and when the boat needs to be fixed no one crosses the water, but we’ve got billions invested in transportation infrastructure, but the WSWT gets a relative pittance.
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It seems like when our leaders think of transportation, West Seattle is always the afterthought. (BTW, good job voting out the guy who actually lives here in favor of the guy who couldn’t give a rat’s behind.)

foy boy May 13, 2011 (9:38 am)

Nate, you got it right. Argosy was less to operate.

nate May 13, 2011 (1:41 pm)

Foy Boy – thanks.
I was just trying to point out that cheaper isn’t always better… unless, of course, you’re talking about paying for something that you won’t use. Then cheaper is always the way to go.
That is exactly why I’ve been advocating that we construct the new 520 floating bridge using milk cartons and aluminum foil.
I never go to Redmond, so why should I subsidize the commute of some Microsoft Elites?

CandrewB May 13, 2011 (1:57 pm)

I don’t know, not to argue Nate, but the Sightseer felt like I was lucky to be living here when on it. The RM feels like I am on the bus.

nate May 13, 2011 (2:39 pm)

CandrewB – I totally agree. In all seriousness, the Sightseer was much more romantic, and did feel like a harbor cruise.

William May 14, 2011 (10:19 am)

I see the reliability problem as a King County management problem. Doesn’t King County have performance requirments in their contract for the Water Taxi boats. How could they not? Are KC managers enforcing the contract? Did the contract include provisions for back-up service? Apparently not! If this is the case, how could that be? Metro would not try to run transit service without spare buses.

Sorry, comment time is over.