King County Water Taxi debuts a new look

King County Water Taxi unveiled their vessels’ brand-new look on Monday, just in time for the West Seattle spring and summer schedule.

MV Doc Maynard, which serves the West Seattle route, debuted a few colorful changes on Monday. Weather permitting, Vashon vessel Sally Fox should get its makeover sometime this weekend.

The most distinctive change is a new brand mark: a wave of three lines in deep blue, lighter blue, and gold. In a blog post, King County Department of Transportation (KCDOT) spokesperson Scott Gutierrez said the motif is supposed to represent both the Water Taxi itself and the sun over the Puget Sound: “a conceptual, dual-purpose graphic.”

The rebrand also includes a revamped, slightly more colorful logo and brighter-blue wrapping on top.

KCDOT

With the new branding come new uniforms and signage.

The redesign was done in-house last winter with designers from King County DOT, Metro, and Department of Natural Resources and Parks. Gutierrez tells Curbed Seattle that by not hiring any outside consultants or designers, they saved an estimated $35,000.

Uniforms and vinyl wrapping and decals came in under budget, too. The total cost ended up being about $50,000 for the rebranding, marketing materials, uniforms, and signage, says Gutierrez.

King County’s biennial budget allowed $144,000 for KCDOT Marine Division rebranding.

The Water Taxi runs every day during the spring and summer between Pier 50 and West Seattle and weekdays during peak hours from Pier 50 to Vashon Island.

The new West Seattle summer schedule has crossings at least every hour on weekdays—every 30 minutes during peak hours—and crossings every hour on weekends, with a late-night schedule for sporting events.

• Water Taxi unveils sleek new look in time for sunnier days and busy spring [KC]
• New schedule, new look: West Seattle Water Taxi vessel Doc Maynard sports ‘rebranding’ [WSB]
• King County Water Taxi [KC]