Puget Sound

Puget Sound is blessed with an extensive namesake water highway that early last century was used extensively by a network of passenger-only ferries known as "The Mosquito Fleet." The age of the auto led to the Mosquito Fleet's demise, but in recent years the utility of water transit has again become apparent. Following the exit of Washington State Ferries from passenger-only, or foot ferry operations, King County has created a foot ferry district - funded by a portion of the property tax - to operate the Vashon Island-Seattle route, the West Seattle Water Taxi and five demonstration routes which could become permanent, depending on ridership.

Bremerton and Kitsap County will test a new low-wake high-speed foot ferry on the Bremerton-Seattle route. The Port of Kingston plans a Kingston-Seattle route. San Juan and Whatcom counties are exploring a Friday Harbor-Bellingham run. Securing full funding is still an issue in each of these last three instances, and shoreline impact challenges remain pressing for Bremerton-Seattle route.

Government grants could at some point help fund construction of a number of new fast foot ferries in Washington State, but operating them profitably, or at not too burdensome a cost, is another matter. To smooth the fiscal voyage of foot ferries in Puget Sound, some sort of unifying inter-local agreement is needed. This approach could better allow current and future operators to better share facilities, equipment, promotion, and management.

Cascadia Center has also suggested that a regional motor vehicle excise tax increase be presented to the voting public to help fund Puget Sound clean-up and help support foot ferry operations. Puget Sound water quality is affected by vehicle operations, and expanded foot ferry service with good inter-modal connections could provide an attractive alternative to driving.

Bay Area Foot Ferries

In the San Francisco Bay Area, there is an extensive network of passenger-only ferries. The Bay Area Water Emergency Transit Authority promotes a combined 14 commuter and leisure routes, many run by other operators, and is purchasing new boats for routes it expects to take over or add. WETA was created in 2004 to consolidate several long-standing passenger-only ferry routes in the Bay Area, and coordinate emergency response for all. As the "emergency" in the agency's name implies, one focus is being prepared to deploy foot ferries to connect people and places in case of a natural disaster such as an earthquake or a terrorist attack. Either could decommission roads, bridges and highways.

To update the Bay Area's foot ferry fleet, the agency in late 2008 took delivery of a new, $8.8 million, 149-passenger twin-hulled catamaran constructed by Nichols Brothers Boat Builders of Freeland, Wash., on Whidbey Island. The company has built 41 similar vessels since 1982 but the latest iteration is a state of the art "green" ferry with reduced emissions and wake impact. WETA hopes to have 10 new boats operating by 2025. Meanwhile, the other foot ferry agency in the Bay Area, which also operates the Golden Gate Bridge, has bought for $4 million two late-90s vintage high-speed passenger-only vessels from Washington State Ferries. The boats will run between San Francisco, and Larkspur and Sausalito. They were used on the Bremerton-Seattle passenger-only route, which was discontinued because of lawsuits from waterfront homeowners in narrow Rich Passage who contended the voluminous wakes from the boats caused shoreline erosion. That is not expected to be an issue in the more open waters of the Bay Area.

Vancouver, British Columbia Foot Ferries

In metro Vancouver, British Columbia, a company named Coast Mountain Bus operates, for the regional transit agency TransLink, the SeaBus passenger-only ferry service. Two double-ended 400-passenger catamarans run across scenic Burrard Inlet from Waterfront Station in downtown Vancouver to Lonsdale Quay in North Vancouver, a community connected to Vancouver and the mainland by the local road and bridge network. Trip time is 12 minutes. A variety of direct transit connections are available at both ends - a bus network in North Vancouver including routes to Grouse Mountain and the Capilano Suspension Bridge; and at Waterfront Station, direct connections to light rail, commuter rail and buses. Two boats, the Burrard Otter and the Burrard Beaver, ply the route. But they are each 30 years old and require maintenance often enough for TransLink to purchase a new third boat to keep schedules on track during repairs and then expand service frequency in 2010.