King County Ferries: Floating buses

The King County Council's approval of higher sales and real estate taxes as well as bus fares probably displeased a portion of Initiative 960 supporters who figured that their taxes can never be raised again without their say. But local government is an entirely different creature, one that can act independently of the state to raise our annual household taxes by $90 a year, generating millions of dollars to fund several items, among them being a ferry plan.

This includes (among other things) bringing back the "mosquito fleet" of small boats used as water taxis on an experimental basis and the takeover of the Vashon-to-downtown foot ferry from the state. Also considered is the expansion of the Elliott Bay water taxi (which goes from West Seattle to downtown) to year-round. Heck. If all else fails, we can buy the two passenger ferries the state is currently auctioning off on eBay and find uses for them.

This plan may not have everyone's support, but the failure of Proposition 1 -- the $47 billion roads-and-transit package -- was a huge setback for the region. In addition to sending transit planners back to the drawing board, it also put us in a holding pattern -- one riddled with worsening traffic congestion -- as far as our transportation options go.

We need to build transportation options for our future, and looking at experimental ferry routes seems like a good start.