Hear me out: we used to have ferries crossing Lake Washington before the floating bridges took over. Cars made sense back then. But bringing back car ferries today would be a nightmare. Passenger ferries though? Different story.
King County already runs the Water Taxi successfully between downtown Seattle and West Seattle. Why not apply the same concept to Lake Washington?
Potential routes:
- Kirkland ↔ Seattle (South Lake Union / UW / downtown)
- Bellevue ↔ Seattle
- Kenmore ↔ Seattle
- Renton ↔ Bellevue
- Mercer Island ↔ Seattle/UW
Not as replacements for the bridges — as supplements.
Every day we dump thousands of people onto I-90, 520, and local arterials just to move around a giant lake. Meanwhile there’s an entire body of water sitting there doing transportation work for exactly zero people.
A few reasons I think this could actually work:
- No billion-dollar tunnels or elevated guideways
- Fast to pilot — docks are cheaper than rail infrastructure
- Waterfront-to-waterfront trips can be surprisingly direct
- Bike + pedestrian friendly
- Scenic enough that people might actually enjoy commuting for once
- Could connect into Link, buses, and park-and-rides
People will say: “520 already exists” or “Link is coming.”
Fair. But Seattle transit has never been one-mode-fits-all. We already have buses, rail, monorail, streetcars, Sounder, ferries, and Water Taxis because geography here is weird. Lake Washington is basically an unused transportation corridor.
And before anyone says “this failed before” — the old Lake Washington ferries existed in a world before fast passenger catamarans, Orca integration, and modern commuter systems.
Am I crazy here, or does anyone else think a Kirkland/Bellevue ↔ Seattle water taxi pilot would be worth testing?
submitted by /u/IndependenceSad1272
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