||| FROM COMMUNITY WATER TAXI |||
We are the Community Water Taxi (CWT), a group of concerned island residents running an emergency and on-call inter island water taxi service within San Juan County (SJC) separate from the Washington State Ferries (WSF).
We try to help people get to medical appointments, work, court appointments and school when the inter-island service is disrupted. We have been operating the water taxi since August. Ultimately, our goal is to make this service a subsidized fare.
Residents of SJC are uniquely aware that the capacity of WSF is stretched beyond the needs of our community. There is little that we can do to repair that system. The States’ own projections show improvements are years away. It is time for us to begin to determine ways that we, as residents of SJC, can begin to take some control of our transportation needs.
Providing this service has prompted us to approach County & State officials about funding a pilot program for a County-owned / operated or public / private partnership service to supplement WSF. We have also reached out to local private donors and nonprofits. The response has been very positive.
We will be releasing a survey in January to gather necessary information to help us understand the effects of WSF service disruptions and the needs of our local community. Based on those responses, outside research, and real on-the-water work, we hope to create a system which we can trial-run in the spring. We understand that a project of this nature is laden with pitfalls, but we also believe that without starting this effort, our island community connections will continue to erode.
In the meantime, please head over to our Facebook and Instagram to follow us for updates on our work or the status of service when the inter island goes down. If you have any questions, send us an email.
- https://www.facebook.com/
communitywatertaxi/ - https://www.instagram.com/
community_water_taxi/ - communitywatertaxi@gmail.com
Ed Andrews
Tom Bridge, USCG Captain, Island Water Taxi & Rupali Barge
Carey Eskridge, Executive Director of the Orcas Chamber of Commerce
Justin Paulsen, SJC Ferry Advisory Committee Member
Sandy Playa, Coordinator, Island Rides
**If you are reading theOrcasonian for free, thank your fellow islanders. If you would like to support theOrcasonian CLICK HERE to set your modestly-priced, voluntary subscription. Otherwise, no worries; we’re happy to share with you.**
This weekend, the CWT team submitted a letter to the Governor and Legislators in Olympia to request $100,000 to fund a passenger-only ferry pilot project for inter island service in San Juan County.
This project could begin very soon after funding — as early as Spring 2024 — by scaling the service we already have experience providing. A state-subsidized fare would also provide more consistent service to more people.
We’re optimistic about our emergency request as we’ve been in continuous contact with our Legislators,. They’re aware of the crisis we’re facing, and they’ve reacted positively to what we’re trying to do in SJC.
This is great news! SJC should have at least a couple of passenger/light freight ferries for interisland use and eventually a scheduled Bellingham run entirely separate from WSF. In an ideal scenario, those would be hydrofoiling, electric ferries but that technology is still evolving, so it makes sense to use what we have for now and aim for better, faster, less-polluting boats as the tech matures. I look forward to the survey.
Over 2 years ago I proposed to Cindy Wolf and Christine Minney that the county establishes a Transportation District (a junior taxing district) to provide passenger only ferries to run from the county to the Anacortes marina (just a short walk to Island Hospital) and to the Bellingham marina (there are two potential locations, both along the bus run that goes to St. Joseph’s hospital) and that would run inter island routes as part of the pick up to the mainland. I sent them the documents and plan Kitsap Transit used for their passenger only ferries to Seattle from Bremerton, Southworth and Kingston (should be still available). We would require much smaller boats and would need to coordinate with Anacortes and Bellingham. WSF would continue to provide vehicle and passenger service as they do now, but we would have more flexibility, and better ability to respond to system outages that would otherwise strand students and workers, along with more frequent service for hospital visits. I believe the citizens of San Juan County would like a say if we should decide to tax ourselves and provide this service, along with any State grants we may be able to secure. The CWT would be a great starting point. I have not seen that either Councilmember has brought this up.
@Ken Wood/@James Wolf — excellent ideas! I — probably along with many other SJC residents — have also proposed the idea to our state representative (Debra Lekanoff) of either (a) non-WSF passenger ferries or (b) finding a way to coordinate WSF walk-on passengers with ground transportation to downtown Anacortes (and, aspirationally, the Mt Vernon transit center), either shuttle buses, or even just enabling a by-the-hour car rental service (such as Zipcar) by offering them free parking in one of the Anacortes uphill lots.
Given WSF’s stated goal of increasing walk-on traffic for the SJC routes, do you think that the ground transportation idea could have legs? (no pun intended)
Excellent point Ken Singh! Coordinated ground transport once passengers arrive on the mainland is essential to any SJC owned and operated ferry. If Zipcar is not interested (there might not be enough potential usage for their business model) perhaps the SJC passenger ferry system could purchase a half dozen used electric cars? Older EVs often have diminished battery capacity/range and can often be found for $7000 or less. Since the intended use is in and around the Bellingham area or the Anacortes/Mt. Vernon area, a reduced battery range should work just fine; it’s just 21 miles from the ferry landing in Anacortes to Costco in Burlington. A car with a 75 mile range ought to be adequate.
A standardized container/handtruck system would be helpful for quick and easy movement of purchases and luggage up and down docks and for compact stowage onboard the passenger ferryboats. Not everyone wanting to use the system is going to be physically able to haul ‘stuff’ on and off the ferry, so perhaps a deckhand/’helper’ could be part of the ferry crew? Captain/pilot + engineer/deckhand + deckhand/helper ?
I imagine the coast guard will have some input on crewing requirements, safety procedures, lifeboats, etc. Perhaps whale watch businesses could keep their boats busy year-round by sub-contracting to SJC as passenger ferries? I know the Averna’s at DH Charters have done this during emergencies in the past (like when the Elwha rammed the dock at Orcas in 1999).
The citizens of the San Juan Islands are renowned for our creativity; let’s harness that ‘out-of-the-box’ thinking to come up with local solutions to inter-island and fast passenger ferry service to the mainland!
Great ideas, all! You’re right on the money that a successful passenger ferry involves a connected ground transportation system (and/or adequate parking at the dock)–and, at least at this end, that’s up to the County. It could be an expanded local jitney system operating on the Uber / Lyft model…local employment opportunities. …and I love the idea of expanding our existing whale-watch businesses for that purpose. So the question is: with queries to the elected at every level, who’s going to be the first to do something about it?
FYI- there are at least two water taxi services currently serving the islands. They are both based at Skyline marina in Anacortes which is only a few blocks from a shuttle location to downtown Anacortes. I know that Island Express Charters also offers shopping service from Costco and a lot of other stores and delivers for a very reasonable cost. The other company that I know of is Paraclete. Island Express operates three boats and Paraclete one (I think) and both do an excellent job.
It might be a good idea to support the small local businesses that are already here and have figured out the most economical way to operate rather than trying to create another government subsidized operation. We already have one of those….
While I agree that supporting the existing Anacortes based water taxi services is an important aspect of any comprehensive inter-island/passenger ferry system, the existing businesses are mostly oriented at non-ferry served islands. If it were financially feasible (or legal) to compete with the WSF system on a purely fare based model, I suspect they would already be doing it. Witness multiple unsuccessful attempts to operate passenger service to Bellingham from the north shore of Orcas.
It seems pretty clear that inter-island/passenger ferries will have to be publicly supported in some fashion. Fares simply won’t do it; if the fares are high enough to cover costs and make a profit, those fares will have to be unaffordably expensive for the majority of potential passengers. Which will drive down the number of passengers and defeat the whole idea before it even starts.
What about diverting some of the money spent on “nice but non-essential” equipment and work by the road department to passenger ferries? There is a whole lot of fat that could be trimmed from the road department without even sharpening our pencils.
Could the emergency management, sheriff and fire departments contribute to fast passenger ferries as potential water ambulances and emergency transportation? There are times when boats can get across to the mainland hospitals, etc. and aircraft cannot due to darkness, wind and fog. Orcas voted to tax ourselves for a medical center (that many of us don’t use) so I don’t see why a county inter-island/passenger ferry couldn’t be funded the same way. The Skagit bus system doesn’t pay for itself with fares, nor do any public transportation systems that I am familiar with; certainly not the WSF system!