Introduced last year, the new midday sailings on King County’s Vashon-Seattle water taxi have proven to be a boon to the island.

Thanks to concerted efforts by local advocates such as Islanders for Ferry Action and lawmakers including Sen. Emily Alvarado and King County Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda, the state Legislature appropriated $3.17 million for those new sailings — four every weekday — which started in the summer.

The added trips were intended to provide some relief for the hardships and inconvenience islanders have endured from flagging Washington State Ferries service, and they’ve worked: Total ridership increased from roughly 45,00 in the second half of 2023 to about 69,500 for the second half of 2024, more than a 50% leap driven mostly by midday sailings.

“This has been a huge success, and shows pent-up demand,” Islanders for Ferry Action steering committee member Wendy Aman told The Beachcomber. “We’re still in crisis, and we’re starting to solve it. … That water taxi is a very important service to this community.”

But that appropriation expires June 30, unless it’s renewed in the next two-year budget cycle. Legislators need to make more than $1 billion in cuts to the state transportation budget alone this year, and they’ll be scrutinizing any programs that aren’t considered essential.

They may be led to believe that we don’t need the midday service anymore because Gov. Bob Ferguson has promised to restore the Triangle Route to full service.

Here’s why that line of thinking is wrong.

First: Full, lasting restoration of the Triangle is far from guaranteed. The day Governor Bob Ferguson announced the restoration of full domestic ferry service in Washington, Washington State Ferries Deputy Executive Director John Vezina sobered that announcement for Vashon: Three-boat service will require having three Issaquah-class vessels available, he said, which will not always be a given due to the fleet’s tight margins and maintenance needs.

“When we don’t have a third Issaquah-class available, we may have to go to the improved two-boat [schedule], and one of the conversations we’ll be having with the community is … we don’t want to go back and forth [between two- and three-boat schedules], right? That’s going to be really confusing for people,” he told The Beachcomber earlier this month.

“We know that Washington State Ferries are committed to providing three boat service … and that is our expectation,” said Islanders for Ferry Action Director Amy Drayer. “But we also know there are always hiccups along the line. It’ll be an improvement, but people going to medical care … need reliability. And reliable, almost to a fault, is the water taxi.”

Meanwhile, the first of a new generation of electric car ferries now isn’t expected until 2029, a year later than an estimate given last year. Taking away midday water taxi service — all of this progress — now could leave us in a worse position than where we started, and potentially for many years to come.

Second, the new water taxi sailings have quickly become a relied-upon service. Mid-day service alone accounted for 20,000 new trips on the water taxi, indirectly helping car ferry riders and staff by reducing lines and crowding.

“How many times does a government program get to say we are wildly successful and popular? That’s what’s happening with the water taxi,” said Islanders for Ferry Action steering committee member Rick Wallace.

Axing a successful program just as we’re crawling out of this crisis would be ill-advised and disruptive. Don’t fix what ain’t broke.

Finally, every rider who chooses the water taxi rather than driving onto a ferry is spewing fewer fossil fuel byproducts and orca-threatening tire particulates into the Salish Sea. Regionally, water taxis are growing in popularity as a nimbler and environmentally conscious solution to aquatic transportation.

These expanded water taxi sailings are an economic, environmental and moral victory.

But while quality aquatic transportation is one of the fundamental responsibilities our state and county have to our bridgeless island, that doesn’t mean it’s a given.

If the state of our nation is any indication, we know that we risk losing what we hold precious if we don’t fight for it.

The Legislative process moves faster than we can print a paper. For rapid updates on this budget process — and how islanders can get involved — the Vashon Chamber Facebook page is a great start.

In the meantime, if you use the water taxi, you should let our elected officials know. Reach out with positive stories about how its service makes the difference for your family — stories we can share with the rest of the state.

We can soapbox from this editorial page all day, but real human stories are the best cases for keeping the water taxi sailing.

• 34th District Sen. Emily Alvarado: Emily.alvarado@leg.wa.gov

• 34th District Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon: Joe.Fitzgibbon@leg.wa.gov

• 34th District Rep. Brianna Thomas: Brianna.Thomas@leg.wa.gov