King County's West Seattle Water Taxi Costs More, Carries Far Fewer

To give you a quick sense of how the newly public operation of the King County Water Taxi (West Seattle version) is going, you have a choice: it either costs three times as much, or only $20,000 per month more, than before.

In a public/private partnership, Argosy Cruises had operated the water taxi since 1997, from spring to fall. Under Ferry District administration, West Seattle was supposed to get year-round taxi service, but now money looks very scarce. Total King County Ferry District operating costs for the Vashon and West Seattle runs for 2010 (for nine months) are pegged at around $5 million, with projections of $1 million in fares and $1 from property taxes.

Don't put too much trust in the "Privatization Saves!" faithful over at the Washington Policy Center, who are responsible for the tripled costs figure, but the fact remains that, with Argosy pocketing the fare box revenue, the public cost for the West Seattle run in 2009 was $808,000.

The contention that direct costs on the West Seattle run will be $20,000 per month more comes from Hank Meyers, the new Ferry District's executive director, who says the WPC figures are apples-to-oranges comparisons. This $20,000 increase comes despite raising the cash fare by fifty cents, to $3.50, and eliminating the $1 fare with Metro transfer. (I don't think that $20,000 includes the $7,500 in fares stolen by an employee: "As 26 (26!) of the vaults disappeared, someone finally noticed a problem," reported Seattle Weekly.)

To further muddy the waters, ridership is down 40 percent compared to 2009, which is going to throw off fare projections if it keeps up. West Seattle Blog has in-depth water taxi coverage, including the surprising decline in passengers, which some chalk down to the move to Pier 50 from Pier 54/55 on the Seattle side, where Argosy boarded passengers. Riders also say the new, leased boat is louder than Argosy's, and has a smaller deck.

So far, there looks to be no convincing reason for King County to have taken over operation of the West Seattle run. The Ferry District hopes to demonstrate more efficiency on the Vashon Island-to-Seattle run, saving just over $60,000, but--apples to oranges, Hank!--it took that over from the state's ferry system, not a private operator. And as has been made abundantly clear lately, Washington State Ferries are not ones to nickel-and-dime themselves if a quarter is handy.