King County photo by Ned Ahrens
Make it another month of record ridership for the King County Water Taxi.
And it’s all thanks to our amazing riders!
For the second consecutive month, we carried more riders than ever before – 52,902, to be exact. That’s nearly 20 percent more than October ridership in each of the last two years.
Here’s a breakdown by route:
- On the West Seattle route, we counted 30,878 riders, an increase of more than 21 percent compared to October 2016.
- For the commuter-heavy Vashon Island route, we carried 22,024 riders, an increase of nearly 18 percent over last October.
King County Water Taxi also posted a perfect record of reliability for nearly 1,300 scheduled trips on the West Seattle and Vashon Island routes.
Overall, Water Taxi year-to-date ridership is almost even with last year’s ridership. That’s significant, because we interrupted service for a week in early August to move to our temporary location at Pier 52.
The numbers point to something that’s undeniable – we have the best, most loyal riders around!
We say this a lot, but we again thank you for riding the King County Water Taxi.
(To view ridership data for both routes, visit the “About Us” page of our website, under the “Data” tab)
Captain's Blog 
Speaking of breaking things, riders who missed Sally Fox’s 4:30 run from Seattle to Vashon on Monday, Nov. 13 would love to hear a report about the broken window and any new thoughts you may have on the vessel’s ability to sail when the seas are lively.
Hi Seth – Thanks for the comment. On Monday, Nov. 13, the interior glass of a double-pane window broke on the MV Sally Fox during the 4:30 pm sailing to Vashon. Although the vessel has been cleared for use after being inspected by the United States Coast Guard, we have chosen to keep it within Elliott Bay on the West Seattle route until the new double-pane unit arrives. We continue to look for any lessons learned from this and are very happy overall with our newer vessels and the service they provide in all conditions.