A Passenger Ferry in Kenmore? Think of the Possibilities!
A Passenger Ferry from Kenmore to Seattle!
The blue and red lines represent the possible water taxi routes
A ripple of excitement was palpable at the town meeting last evening as Kenmore Mayor, David Baker, and King County Councilmember, Bob Ferguson unveiled plans for a proposed Water Taxi that might sail from the Kenmore waterfront to either the University of Washington, or the neighborhood of Leschi in Seattle. The crowd of almost 100 people (impressive turnout) received quite an education from the Mayor, Councilman and their staffs.
As with any transportation system, there are a huge number of players involved, cost/benefit analyzes and environmental concerns. One of the most important discussions focused-in on the concept that, in the long-term, a passenger ferry is a powerful economic development tool for the City of Kenmore. Mayor Baker emphasized the importance of offering citizens multiple modes of transportation and that the resulting waterfront development will help make Kenmore a regional transportation leader.
Is There a Model and How Has It Worked?
West Seattle Water Taxi
The most informative parts of the meeting related to the current water-taxi service in West Seattle. As the audience asked questions regarding the specifics of running a passenger-only ferry, Mike Beck, the person in charge of the West Seattle route, provided some stunning numbers regarding his highly successful ferry service:
- The W. Seattle water-taxi carried 182,000 passengers last year! (the ferry only runs 7 months)
- 50% of the passengers are regular users and the other 50% are tourists
- The ferry is operated by a private contractor to reduce overall costs
- It now runs 7 days per week
- Bob Ferguson, King County Councilmember
During the hour-long Q&A, the audience asked a good number of thoughtful questions about the ferry. Here’s a summary:
- Ferry Parking – The City of Kenmore has created a parking area right next to the proposed ferry dock at the waterfront
- The Route – From Kenmore to either the University of Washington or Leschi. At each of these destinations, passengers will be able to transfer directly to Metro buses (with the same ticket!)
- Travel Time – The trip will take approximately 28 minutes (no stop lights)
- Boat configuration – The taxis will be double decked and have a 150 person capacity, 80 ft long, 26 ft wide and travel at 22 knots. The King Co. Ferry District has made it a priority to lease/purchase hybrid vessels that will be fuel-efficient and state-of-the-art to reduce costs and protect the environment. (My personal favorite: the ferry can accommodate bikes!!!!!!!)
- Demonstration Routes – Five communities are being considered for “demonstration routes” in order to study the practicality of these ferries: Kenmore, Shilshoe, Renton, Kirkland, and DesMoines. The test routes will run three times in the morning and three times in the afternoon
- Economics – Of course, this was the most controversial discussion last night. There were some thoughtful critics who felt that ferry services are, by nature, far more expensive than buses and will serve far too few people. Basically, the Mayor and Councilman felt that it’s important to move forward with the demonstration routes and study the system. They also indicated that they are hyper-aware of the costs and will minimize them by utilizing current infrastructure and leasing the vessels initially.
Overall, it was an amazingly informative town meeting last night. The City of Kenmore seems committed to some visionary improvements of our community and it looks as if they’re coming up with some great ideas. For another perspective of the meeting, please check out the excellent post by Laurie Sperry at www.kenmoreblog.net: http://kenmoreblog.net/?p=894
April 15th, 2009 at 12:05 pm
Just a couple of questions here:
1. Current costs are in the range of 1/2% of county property taxes, stolen without voter approval. What are projected costs for King County property owners for the next 5 years? 10 years? 20 years?
2. Will the voters of King County be allowed to vote on future funding increases, or will it continue to be a private, back room deal?
3. Is there any way the voters of King County can sink this boondoggle? Now that King County has taken over for the state, can the county council kill it? If not, why not?
Assuming King County is going ahead with this lunacy, the use of ferries on Lake Washington has been billed as a “demonstration” project.
4. What are the metrics of “success?”
5. What are the metrics of failure?
6. If it fails, what are the “stop operations” procedures? Will the staff be laid off? Has King County ever laid off an employee before? Have these new employees signed an agreement stating that their jobs are temporary, dependent on meeting the above metrics?
7. Will the metrics be audited by an independent agency, or is this going to be another back room deal?
8. What is the time frame for this “demonstration?”
Will Bob Ferguson be willing to admit failure and turn it off if it does not measure up? Or will Bob just change the metric after the “demonstration?” This is a very important question. If the going in position has no “shut off” parameters, it isn’t a demonstration and the King County Council have created very poor government.
9. Currently it costs about $27,000 per parking stall for public parking, such as a park & ride lot. How much has been budgeted for parking at both terminus? Who is paying for this, the terminus city or the King County taxpayer?
10. Have Metro and Sound Transit agreed to co-ordinate their operations to match the boat schedules?
11. Why are we funding a duplicate administrative beaurocracy? Couldn’t Metro or ST provide this service without the addition of an entire new staff and facilities?
12. Most assuredly King County will need to negotiate an agreement with the Inland Boatmen’s Union. Has this been done? What will the pay rates be? Who will be in charge of selecting staff – the union or the county? This isn’t a silly question. Currently the Union charges applicants for consideration and pre-screens them before they can be interviewed by the state for their ferry system. This arrangement is ripe for abuse.
13. What safety measures have been negotiated with the US Coast Guard? They currently do not have facilities or watercraft stationed on Lake Washington. Are they positioned to perform emergency rescue? If the Coast Guard does not provide emergency and rescue services, who will? It is a big lake with multiple jurisdictions and no defined boundaries on the water.
14. Currently there is no fireboat operational on Lake Washington. Who will fund this? Man it? Own it?
15. Who will do the maintenance for these boats? Where will it be done? Will new facilities need to be acquired?
16. Where will fueling take place? Will this be a county owned and operated facility or a public fuel dock?
17. Will fuel futures be negotiated independent of other county/regional/state agencies, or will the fuel be negotiated as part of Metro/ST? Metro and ST have much larger budgets and are able to negotiate better deals. Will King County consider using their financial strength? As we have seen, Metro is in deep dodo over fuel prices. Will this be one of the metrics?
April 17th, 2009 at 2:08 pm
Hi Art – You raise some thoughtful and important questions regarding the proposed water taxi. During the recent town hall meeting several participants had similar concerns and, interestingly, even those excited about the water taxi, expressed a healthy skepticism with regard to the feasibility and benefits of the taxi. One audience member said this project is nothing more than a way to feel nostalgic about bygone days.
I believe you deserve answers, so I have referred your comments directly to Bob Ferguson’s office asking them to write a response to your questions.
June 27th, 2009 at 2:43 pm
[...] the proposed water taxi that may someday sail between Kenmore, WA and the University of Washington: A Passenger Ferry in Kenmore? There was a lot of enthusiasm for the project at that town meeting and I’ve wondered how [...]