Blue Bus Fan Posted April 9, 2015 Report Share Posted April 9, 2015 The M/V Sally Fox has started service today on the Vashon Island route. www.king5.com/story/news/traffic/2015/04/08/vashon-island-seattle-water-taxi/25472217/This vessel is the first of two "brand' new vessels owned by King Co. Water Taxi. The two new boats will replace the Melissa Ann which was leased and 27 yrs old. The second vessel will put the Spirit of Kingston as a backup boat. The Spirit of Kingston is the first vessel owned by King Co. Water Taxi which was operated on the route between Kingston and Downtown Seattle before it shut down in fall of 2012. Here is a photo of Spirit of Kingston: Spirit of Kingston by Blue Bus Fan, on Flickr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rickycourtney Posted April 11, 2015 Report Share Posted April 11, 2015 Hey I know the guy who wrote that KING 5 article! Anyways here's my favorite picture of the Sally Fox I took while en route the dedication ceremony. Traveling to the dedication was actually really cool, the media folks got to stand on the back of the Spirit of Kingston and take photos of the Sally Fox as it chased us around Elliot Bay and the Puget Sound. The Sally Fox is a beautiful ship. I have a lot more pictures up on this Flickr gallery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Bus Fan Posted May 3, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 3, 2015 One more boat named the M/V Doc Manyard will enter service on the West Seattle route after she is done sea trails. http://westseattleblog.com/2013/12/new-king-county-water-taxi-boats-to-be-built-by-all-american-marine-but-delivered-later-than-originally-hoped/ I hope the M/V Doc Manyard will bring the off-peak and weekend service to West Seattle route during the off-peak season months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rickycourtney Posted May 5, 2015 Report Share Posted May 5, 2015 One more boat named the M/V Doc Manyard will enter service on the West Seattle route after she is done sea trails. http://westseattleblog.com/2013/12/new-king-county-water-taxi-boats-to-be-built-by-all-american-marine-but-delivered-later-than-originally-hoped/ Yup. The Doc Manyard is expected to be delivered in mid-October 2015. The Sally Fox got about a months of sea trials, assuming a similar schedule the Doc Maynard will go into service in November/December 2015. At around the same time the Melissa Ann will be returned to Four Seasons Marine Services and the Spirit of Kingston will become the backup ship. I hope the M/V Doc Manyard will bring the off-peak and weekend service to West Seattle route during the off-peak season months. I'd love that too, but the Doc Manyard is just a ship... it can't do something like that. The human politicians that work for King County would need to find the funding to make year-round off-peak and weekend service happen. Also worth mentioning that for the last month the the first few runs between Seattle and West Seattle on Saturday are being made by the Melissa Ann and after that the Spirit of Kingston takes over. Not sure if that's due to required weekly maintenance on the Spirit of Kingston, or simply that they want to get the Melissa Ann out on the water once a week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Bus Fan Posted August 29, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 29, 2015 The M/V Doc Maynard was launch on August 8th: http://westseattleblog.com/2015/08/new-west-seattle-water-taxi-doc-maynard-launches-starts-sea-trials/ The M/V Doc Maynard will first enter service on the Seattle to Vashon Island route for the M/V Sally Fox goes in for warranty work. By the way, King County Water Taxi may expand onto Lake Washington and add more sailing, and routes on the Puget Sound. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rickycourtney Posted September 1, 2015 Report Share Posted September 1, 2015 King County is out with an "Interim Report on Ferry Expansion" that identifies routes that could potentially be added to the Water Taxi system. The report identified 36 potential routes and 17 potential terminal locations in Bellevue, Des Moines, Kenmore, Kirkland and Seattle (including Ballard, the University of Washington, Pier 50 and South Lake Union). Three routes were identified for further consideration, based on overall time competitiveness compared to other modes of travel and the cost of operation:• Kenmore (Log Boom Park) to University of Washington (Waterfront Activity Center)• Kirkland (Marina Park) to University of Washington (Waterfront Activity Center)• Ballard (Shilshole Marina) to Downtown Seattle (Pier 50). The county's Transportation, Economy and Environment (TrEE) Committee will officially receive the interim today. The final report on expansion is expected to be finished by November 25, 2015.Link to read the report (pp. 177-442): http://aqua.kingcounty.gov/Council/agendas/TrEE/20150901-TrEE-packet.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Bus Fan Posted September 3, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 3, 2015 I think they expand the West Seattle route to operate seven days and off peak to all year instead of peak season and expand the Vashon Island route to off peak in off peak season and seven days with off peak service during the peak season with the couple of routes that might come into play. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rickycourtney Posted September 16, 2015 Report Share Posted September 16, 2015 So the Doc Maynard arrived in Seattle over the weekend. The plan is to have a dedication ceremony Friday at 11:30. After that Doc will go into service on the Vashon Island run for a while so that the Sally Fox can go back to the builder in Bellingham for warrantee work.He's a great looking ship and as West Seattle commuter, I'm very excited.I've noticed a few differences between Sally and Doc. Doc has a new King County Water Taxi logo. It has the image of Dr. King and looks like the King County Metro logo. Also the metal beams at the bow of the ship have a decal of Seattle skyline.Here's a picture: Picture from @kcnews on Twitter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Bus Fan Posted September 16, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 16, 2015 Do you know if they going to increase services in the off season on West Seattle when she enters service? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rickycourtney Posted September 16, 2015 Report Share Posted September 16, 2015 Do you know if they going to increase services in the off season on West Seattle when she enters service? To my knowledge, no. The off-peak/Weekend service is heavily dependent on tourist traffic to pencil out financially... and there just isn't enough tourists between November and March. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Bus Fan Posted September 16, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 16, 2015 Couldn't they write schedule that matches the demand of off season? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rickycourtney Posted September 18, 2015 Report Share Posted September 18, 2015 Couldn't they write schedule that matches the demand of off season?They did. It involves having no off peak or weekend service. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Bus Fan Posted September 18, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 18, 2015 They did. It involves having no off peak or weekend service.But they introduced because it seems like a waste of money to sail two 250 passengers vessels on only part of day and only five days a week Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Bus Fan Posted October 26, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 26, 2015 The winter schedule have came in effect on October. 26: http://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/WAKING/bulletins/1216c4f Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Bus Fan Posted December 23, 2015 Author Report Share Posted December 23, 2015 The water taxi has set a new record with over 500,000th riders on both routes: http://www.westseattleherald.com/2015/12/11/news/500000th-water-taxi-rider-year-west-seattleite-ma I wonder if ridership increase next year would KC Marine division consider increasing services on the routes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SounderBruce Posted January 8, 2016 Report Share Posted January 8, 2016 The M/V Doc Maynard entered service this morning on the West Seattle run. http://komonews.com/news/local/new-water-taxi-on-elliott-bay-gears-up-for-viaduct-closure The run in particular is anticipated to have a short surge in ridership during the planned closure of the Alaskan Way Viaduct in March (when Bertha burrows under). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Bus Fan Posted May 24, 2016 Author Report Share Posted May 24, 2016 From my West Seattle trip on Saturday: Spirit of Kingston by Blue Bus Fan, on Flickr Spirit of Kingston by Blue Bus Fan, on Flickr Spirit of Kingston by Blue Bus Fan, on Flickr Spirit of Kingston by Blue Bus Fan, on Flickr Doc Mayard by Blue Bus Fan, on Flickr Doc Mayard by Blue Bus Fan, on Flickr Doc Mayard by Blue Bus Fan, on Flickr Doc Mayard by Blue Bus Fan, on Flickr Do they often use the Spirit of Kingston on the West Seattle Route during the weekends? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rickycourtney Posted May 25, 2016 Report Share Posted May 25, 2016 On May 24, 2016 at 8:31 PM, Blue Bus Fan said: Do they often use the Spirit of Kingston on the West Seattle Route during the weekends? No. Normally the Doc Maynard continues to run on the weekends. That said, I've noticed that if the Spirit of Kingston will sometimes make an appearance on the first few runs of the day on Saturday. I'm not sure the reasoning behind this. Maybe they just like to run the Spirit of Kingston once a week to make sure everything operates correctly, or if the Doc Maynard is scheduled for routine maintenance on Saturday mornings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Bus Fan Posted July 14, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 14, 2016 King Co. Water Taxi has seen increase ridership since "Via-doom" by 20-30% on both routes: https://kingcountywatertaxiblog.com/2016/05/31/water-taxi-proves-itself-as-an-alternative-to-the-viaduct/ I wonder if ridership stays like this during the winter will they consider adding more sailing on both routes; with West Seattle seeing midday service during the winter and midday sailing on the Vashon route all year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Bus Fan Posted September 30, 2016 Author Report Share Posted September 30, 2016 M/V Doc Maynard was in dry dock was September 14, 15, and 16: https://kingcountywatertaxiblog.com/2016/09/22/check-up-for-the-doc-water-taxi-back-to-work-after-warranty-inspection/ I wonder why M/V Spirit of Kingston is in service today? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Bus Fan Posted January 11, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2017 King Co. Water Taxi has been seeing increased ridership each year: https://kingcountywatertaxiblog.com/2017/01/09/water-taxi-ridership-sailed-deep-into-unchartered-waters-in-2016/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rickycourtney Posted April 11, 2017 Report Share Posted April 11, 2017 King County has unveiled a new logo and a slightly different livery for the Water Taxi: https://kingcountywatertaxiblog.com/2017/04/10/water-taxi-unveils-sleek-new-look-in-time-for-sunnier-days-and-busy-spring/ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Bus Fan Posted June 17, 2017 Author Report Share Posted June 17, 2017 No water taxi service at the height of tourist season for ten days due the terminal moving: http://www.kingcounty.gov/depts/transportation/news/2017/20170616_WaterTaxi_closure.aspx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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