The logistics of getting from home to the dock and back again are favorable to only a subset of commuters.

Wouldn’t it be great to have Vaporettos running from Ballard through Lake Union and then on to Seward Park?

Is there any reason why such a service would need to be rolled out by the public sector? If it is financially viable, seems like an opportunity for entrepreneurs already in the business of moving bodies around. After all, taxis, Ubers, bikeshares, and airlines are all private sector entities who provide valuable transport for people needing to go from A to B.

Factual error in this story:

"Starting in 1989, Washington State Ferries (WSF) had passenger ferries between West Seattle and Bremerton, and Seattle and Vashon Island. Then 1999 happened.

In that fateful year, 113 Bremerton residents sued the state, alleging the ferry’s wake damaged the shoreline along Bremerton’s narrow Rich Passage"

The plaintiffs were not Bremerton residents. Some came from Manchester (the Port Orchard side), but the majority were Bainbridge Islanders.

https://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/4-5-million-settlement-slows-fast-ferry-1084330.php

The Rich Passage goes between Manchester and Bainbridge Island, not Bremerton.

@1 no one in Seattle is further than a mile and a half from the water. Victoria style water taxis docking at the small street end parks along the canal and lakes would be quite efficient.

Ferries make sense when it's faster or easier to get there by ferry than by other modes of transportation. That's true in New York, especially in rush hour. It's not true on most of the Lake Washington routes. UW-SLU is 3-ish miles, and takes 15-20 minutes by surface streets. By boat, that route is about the same distance but the 7-knot speed limit on Lake Union means that it takes half an hour, not counting time to dock and undock. It's faster to go by bus, and probably cheaper all around, too. Pretty much all of the Lake Washington routes suffer the same problem--getting to an in-demand destination (UW or SLU) takes a lot of time going slow. Other destinations have last-mile problems--there's not that many people commuting from the Renton waterfront to the Kirkland waterfront. Getting from the terminal to your destination adds time, money, and inconvenience.

Fauntleroy-Tacoma might make sense, but you'd have to do a real good look at the ridership demand. Downtown Seattle-Tacoma would have more demand, but it's a longer route too. I would ride a Seattle-Port Townsend ferry regularly if it existed.

I would love to have a fleet of passenger-only ferries. But I know enough to know that it's probably only viable for cross-Sound routes.

The original mosquito fleet was heavily supported by mail carriage contracts - any future fleet will most likely need outside subsidies to be viable.

I love the water and boats but it is unlikely any commercial or public offerings will be added any time soon (it’s just not cost effective versus other modes of transport).

The Stranger should've endorsed Balducci for King County Executive. Girmay doesn't care much about transit.

Instead of restoring the Mosquito Fleet, let's set the Wayback Machine and get the streetcar network back. Imagine trams along the arterials connecting to the light rail stations and other destinations (parks and urban villages or whatever they're called).

https://www.reddit.com/r/Map_Porn/comments/eo8zfp/seattle_streetcar_system_1896_oc2001x3002/

@10: "get the streetcar network back"

I predict crying cyclists lying along the tracks with bent rims and broken limbs. Why they can't negotiate rails like they do in places like Amsterdam, I'll never figure out.

Joby green energy air taxis are coming soon. Also the Norwegians are building and using full electric ferries. Why are we spending money on diesel ferries that will pollute our water and air when we could be using clean energy electric instead?
Big oil wants to push their diesel ferries down our throats tying us down for decades. There are better alternatives
don't rush in and buy Big Oil's boats.