Tacoma Councilmember Proposes a Fast-Ferry Service to Seattle

City of ferry destiny? gregobagel/ gettyimages.com

The wonder is that such a service is not already in existence. It makes perfect sense to have a fast "foot ferry" service between the cities. Forty percent of Tacomans work in Seattle, and as City Councilmember Ryan Mello put it on QFox , “they're stuck in traffic.”

Link light rail service between the cities is in the remote future (I would bet on the volcano exploding before light rail happens). And as more and more Seattle people move to Tacoma for what remains of affordability, but their jobs stay in unlivable Seattle, the traffic is only going to get worse. The Sounder train is not up to snuff. Our region knows and does ferries very well. Mello, the councilmember who is pitching the idea (it occurred to him while taking a Kitsap Transit foot ferry between Seattle and Bremerton), wants the service primarily for rush hour. But it should be for all hours of the day and night. Don't think small. Think big. Our region needs big public transportation solutions. This is why the Sounder train is lame. The thinking that went into it was just too small.

Frequent and fast ferries would actually open downtown Tacoma to business from Seattle. The trip would be lovely, if the docks were in walking distance to the downtowns. You would round West Seattle, rush past Vashon Island, and arrive in Commencement Bay in a third of the time the trip would take by car-clogged I-5. After docking, it's a pleasant walk to a bar or club. You do your thing in the historic district, and return to Seattle with the same ease by which you left.

Building or determining the docks and buying ferries will not take forever. In a matter of months, such a service could be up and running. And we would wonder why it took so long to do the most obvious thing. But our minds and imaginations have been stuck in cars, in much the same way cars are stuck in traffic.