Community Water Taxi, Island Water Taxi partner to serve community during ferry outage

||| FROM ED ANDREWS |||

Members of the Community Water Taxi (CWT) and the owner-operator of Island Water Taxi, LLC sprang into action on Saturday, June 15th when the inter-island ferry went out of service for the day.

The county faced the challenge of needing to move a lot of folks throughout the islands with events like the Orcas Island School District’s graduation ceremony, a marathon, and San Juan Island Pride occurring on the same day. Captain Thomas Bridge provided walk-on passenger service to connect the community with many events happening on this day. The boat full of Pride attendees and two young children returning from a Friday night sleepover with their friends were particularly inspiring.

As all SJC residents know, notices of ferry cancellations are not announced far in advance, causing last-minute scrambled schedules and stress for islanders relying on Washington State Ferries (WSF). The aim of this collaboration is to reduce the worry of our county residents and provide continuity of much needed transportation during WSF outages.

During an all-day effort, Bridge transported 54 passengers with over 18 stops that connected people for non-profit needs, essential work, personal needs, and events. Rides are generally around 20 minutes long. They are provided on a donation basis with a suggested donation of $40. Dispatch and ride organization are handled on an emergent basis via text/phone and local Facebook pages that are county transportation related. Through CWT efforts and in partnership with San Juan County (SJC) and the Washington Department of Transportation, the SJC Voucher Program has been expanded to cover the rides for those who qualify.

CWT is a group of concerned island residents looking for solutions to an inter-island walk-on water taxi service within SJC when WSF can not perform this need. We have helped people since August of 2023 to get them to medical appointments, work, court appointments, school, and basic personal travel when there are WSF disruptions. For more information, contact them at communitywatertaxi@gmail.com and/or follow them at facebook.com/communitywatertaxi.

Island Water Taxi, LLC is a locally owned company primarily providing passenger service and standard length vehicle barge service to non-ferry serviced or outer islands in the county on a charter basis. For more information, contact them at 360-303-6860 or sjcwatertaxi@gmail.com.