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Water Taxi docked in Renton
For more than 12 years I have been trying to help get Renton a water taxi connection to Seattle, Bellevue and other cities on Lake Washington. We actually had a pilot program implemented in 2007, and then we lost funding before service ever began when the great recession hit later that year.
I kept the faith and continued to push for water taxi service in the many regional transit forums I attend. Needless to say, I was delighted last year when the owners of Renton’s Southport announced they would privately sponsor water-taxi service between Renton and Seattle, open to the public, for an expected fare of $8.
To win support of the concept, Southport demonstrated the run from South Lake Union to Renton last year. I participated in the demonstration, and gave an interview to the media that you can find here. 
The hydroplane/catamaran style boat travels an impressive 50 mph on the open lake with very little wake, and it does it so smoothly that the bartender doesn’t spill a drop while pouring your chardonnay. The distance from Renton to UW is covered in 18 minutes, but it takes an additional 30 minutes or so to get through the Montlake Cut to South Lake Union due to the 7 mph speed limit. Even at a total of 48 minutes to South Lake Union, the water taxi is probably the fastest way to make the trip during commute hours. It’s also way more comfortable, and the scenery is glorious. At initial implementation the water taxi will not stop at UW, but this and other stops are proposed as a later implementation phase for the ferry. An 18-minute peak-hour trip from Renton to UW (with a little added time for docking and boarding) could simply not be beat by any other form of transportation, including light rail.
Southport’s owners are currently having three high-speed ferries made to their specifications, like the one in the demonstration but slightly longer to offer more bicycle parking. Southport is planning to initiate regular scheduled service between Renton and South Lake Union in 2020. Their long range plan is to work with the County to transition the water taxi service to an appropriate public agency that could expand it to other cities on the lake. As a member of Metro’s Regional Transit Committee I encouraged Metro to embrace the new water taxi, and discussions to date have been productive.
Here are a few photos I took on our demonstration voyage:
This is what 50 mph feels like on the observation deck
The Southport Water Taxis will have additional space for bicycles
A future stop at UW would allow Renton residents to get to the University in 18 minutes any time of day
Unlike buses and trains, the water taxi could offer bar service
I absolutely love this! Why is UW the docking point? Any plans to get people to SLU instead? UW has the light rail so that is still a good option.
Thanks for the question Emily! The Water Taxi will indeed go to South Lake Union (SLU) upoin it’s initial service in 2020. A stop at UW will be added in a later phase of implementation. I focused on the future UW link in my headline for the reason you mentioned, that the UW also has a light rail station as well as being an important destination for many Renton residents.
I love it and am looking forward to trying it out.
I would take it to SLU, UW, Kirkland and even Kenmore. This would be awesome!! Even a stop at a park would be nice, ecspecially during festivals such as Seward. There never enough parking there during big events.
I actually just had a dream about this. I just told my BF I wish I was wealthy so I could start some sort of mass transit on the lake. Who will be hiring staff? I would love to work on the lake!
Thanks for your comments and questions Jasmine! I think SECO development will be hiring the staff, but I don’t think they’re quite at that stage yet. Their website is https://www.secodev.com/southport-office
I’ll post something here on my blog when/if I get more information about hiring staff!
All well and good. However, the Concerns I have are, Mr. Corman:
1) Is there Enough Traffic from Renton to the University of Washington and/or SLU and/or Ballard, for such a Vessel as a High-Speed Catamaran to be Operated Economically at 50MPH/43Knots?
2) What would be the Fare be expected to be, and what would the Fare actually be- for the Run to be Profitable?
3) Where would be the Docks at the University of Washington, South Lake Union, and possibly Ballard?
As a Person who keeps Tabs on Transportation around the Region, and a Concerned Resident, we the people deserve as the Constituents- Hard Numbers, and Solid Answers.
Thanks for your questions Nikolaus!
I’ll do my best to answer them in order.
1) Fortunately, boats can be more efficient for transporting people and loads than wheeled vehicles. They don’t have rolling resistance, hills to go up and down, or stop-and-go traffic, and water can be pretty low friction if the boat is engineered well. These are an advanced design, with high fuel efficiency. You can read more here https://www.allamericanmarine.com/design-advantage/#fuel-efficient
It should therefore be possible to attract people who might otherwise have driven or ridden a bus to these destinations, given the ease, comfort, and economics of riding on a boat. I think with major employers located near all docking locations we will find that the boats will fill enough to make sailing cost effective.
2) The fare will be $7 or $8 per crossing. I think this will cover the cost of operation, but I don’t how much of the amortized purchase price of the boat the fare will cover. The boats are initially being purchased by SECO development to link their Southport development project with the tech hub in South Lake Union, so SECO is likely subsidizing the purchase of the initial boats in order to establish viability of this service. If a public agency enters negotiation to takes over operation, cost data will become public and I can share it here.
3) The long-term dock locations are still being negotiated. For their initial service, SECO is working with the City of Seattle to get permission to use Lake Union Park for the SLU dock, and they have their own dock in Renton.
What about wildlife that lives along the shores? Eagles, otters, ducks, fish?
How would it affect them?
I know that 6 am to 10 am eagles and hawks are catching fish right in front of the Hyatt outside dining area.
Is that the place where catamaran will depart?
Besides making our life a breeze do we take environmental impact into consideration? If so, how do we do that?
You can see a metal carcass with a camera looking down at it in the lake by Barber mill as a reminder to humans who decided to replace a huge eagle nest there and it was completely destroyed and gone now down to zero…
Maybe we need to slowdown a bit?
Thanks for your question Miwa! I believe these boats are very gentle to aquatic life as they don’t have external props. I’m sure there is some risk of animals getting sucked into their intake system, but hopefully there are safety screens to protect fish. Eagles, otters, and ducks will not encounter a deadly propeller, although I suppose they could get bumped by the boat. These boats have been designed to be good in environmentally sensitive areas; you can read more about them here https://www.allamericanmarine.com/design-advantage/#fuel-efficient
Thank you for sharing more info! My concern was and still unanswered: what the schedule will look like? 6 am to 10 am eagles and hawks are fishing by flying over and diving in the water to catch the fish, food. If the catamaran will dock at the area shown in picture and create traffic it will make impossible for the eagles and hawks to fish. Have anyone took time to observe the wildlife in that area? (And I am not talking about beer garden on the dock)))
The “metal carcass” at Barbee was put up there for the osprey. They nested and raised their young on that platform for at least a couple of years. The camera allowed many of us to watch the eggs hatch and osprey family grow. The eagles decided it was a great lookout perch (because they fish and hunt the entire lake) and basically kicked the osprey our of their home.
I can’t wait for the water taxi!
Love it, folks need to understand that Renton is in the early stages of a transformation. Renton is poised to be a tech hub if the city plays their cards right. This will increase our property values incredibly. Here’s to hoping most of downtown is crushed and rebuilt for tech and multifamily higher end condos and or apartments. If Renton did this correctly, they could easily rival parts of Bellevue and Kirkland. Do it right Renton, the future is brite!
This will increase your property tax incredibly and affect the wildlife that lives around the lake.
This is my dreams! Make Renton the next Tacoma. Don’t go the Kirkland way.
I think we should preserve the old downtown partially, to make a more live and play feel for the residents and make it great for retirement, but there is plenty of space/old factories and buildings near the Landing and Southport. I think that should be the new tech downtown.
Thanks for the support Zap! I agree Renton has its best days ahead!
Thank you so much! For over 2 years, I’ve been searching Google about Southport and all this developments, and got nothing except biased Seattle-Bellevue based articles. Finally, I have a place to read about all this! Please keep posting information… I’m especially interested in Southport.