The King County Water Taxi has surpassed last year’s ridership record with two months still left in 2016, the county’s transportation department reported last week.

Combined, the West Seattle and Vashon routes have surpassed last year’s record of 515,000 boardings — 175,575 of which were on the Vashon route. Ridership spiked this year during the Alaskan Way Viaduct closure in April and May and again over the summer with more than 24,000 riders in June, July and August when compared to last summer. King County Department of Transportation officials estimate ridership is expected to top 600,000 by year’s end, which would be an 84 percent increase over 2009’s ridership numbers.

“Record ridership on the King County Water Taxi underscores the tremendous need for local transit options in our region,” King County Council Chair Joe McDermott said in a statement. “With thousands of new residents coming to King County each year, we must preserve and expand services that help people get where they need to be, reliably and quickly.”

The future of the water taxi is currently under consideration as King County Executive Dow Constantine’s 2017-2018 budget is under intensive review by the King County Council. Constantine has proposed a change to the taxi’s funding, which will allocate levy funds previously directed to Metro buses to the taxi. The change will not increase taxes as the Metro levy will be decreased proportionally to the water taxi levy increase. A West Seattle Blog article indicates the levy shift would bring $9 million to the water taxi.

The King County Council is seeking comments on budget priorities. Those interested in giving feedback should do so at surveymonkey.com/r/G3MZGKD.