Dear Editor,

I was interested to read Philip A. Talmadge’s letter regarding the King County Water Taxi in last week’s Herald especially following the record attendance we had on the Opening Day of the 2009 Water Taxi service in West Seattle. People often ask me one of Mr. Talmage’s questions about how the West Seattle-to-downtown Water Taxi performs when compared to the Metro Transit system as a whole. I have good news!

The Water Taxi’s farebox recovery was 39 percent in 2008 when just the costs of ferry service are included. When the cost of the free Water Taxi shuttle is added, farebox recovery for the full system is 26 percent. This performance tops the farebox recovery for King County’s Metro bus system as a whole. Metro’s farebox recovery was approximately 22.6 percent for 2008. Mr. Talmadge is correct that Metro uses 25 percent as a system-wide goal.

Last summer, the Water Taxi carried some 182,904 trips during its late April through October summer season. That breaks down to an average of 973 riders a day (average weekday ridership is 822 per day/average weekend ridership was 1,348 per day) and 32.7 riders per trip. The average cost per rider was $3.14; the Metro system’s cost per rider in 2007 was approximately $3.44.

Mr. Talmadge also suggested that the Water Taxi’s numbers should be compared head-to-head to those from the West Seattle Bridge. A better question to ask is how do the travel times compare between driving the West Seattle Bridge and the Water Taxi ride?

On a clear day with no traffic on the bridge, the Water Taxi is still handily the quicker trip. The Water Taxi beats the bridge under most every circumstance – Where would you rather be when traffic is backed-up? When there is snow?

When the Alaskan Way Viaduct is under construction? By the way, just to be clear, the King County Ferry District supports the continued use of the West Seattle Bridge. Never once has the district claimed that the Water Taxi will someday replace the Bridge.

Mr. Talmadge is correct that waterborne transit gets increased use in nice weather, as our April 5, 2009 Opening Day ridership of 3,429 indicated. However, ridership numbers from ferry systems in Vancouver, B.C., New York City, and the San Francisco Bay Area have shown that most waterborne transit commuters don’t change their mode of transit during winter weather.

(On this point about the weather, I can’t help but mention that it was ferry operators who were the first responders when the recent heroic airplane landing took place on the Hudson River in New York – it was a cold day in winter and the passenger ferries were ready for action.)

We are looking forward to offering year-round Water Taxi service between Seacrest Park and the downtown waterfront next year. This service will require improvements to Seacrest’s aging dock and float. These will cost about $2.7 million and will benefit both ferry passengers and other users of Seacrest Park.

These capital improvements will be paid for primarily from King County Ferry District tax levy proceeds, although Federal Transit Administration Grants will fund a portion. These are new federal dollars to our community. We plan to lease vessels in the near-term and we are seeking other federal funds for a hybrid passenger vessel. And don’t forget, our waterways on which the Water Taxi sails are free.
Last September the Ferry District conducted a rider survey.

The questions asked don’t directly coincide with Mr. Talmadge’s questions, but the survey did provide some interesting numbers. Forty-six percent of weekday riders surveyed were taking the Water Taxi to work, while 82 percent of weekend riders were taking the boat for recreational reasons.

The majority (57 percent) of weekday riders surveyed were West Seattle residents, as compared to just 35 percent of weekend riders. Some 41 percent of riders walked or took the bus to the Water Taxi dock, 27 percent drove and parked their car, and 16 percent were passengers in a car. Seventeen percent arrived at the dock using public transit.

Thank you for this opportunity to give your readers the facts about the King County Water Taxi. I encourage your readers to give the Water Taxi a try!

Kjristine Lund
Executive Director
King County Ferry District