Des Moines residents once could take water taxis to Seattle and Tacoma. But that was over 50 years ago.

Now the Puget Sound Passenger Ferry Coalition wants to bring a water taxi back to the Waterland community.

"We've been looking at this for the last three years with a group called the South Sound Ferry Coalition," said Des Moines City Councilwoman Susan White.

"The idea's been around for a long time with the 'Mosquito Fleet' that was here years ago. There used to be a water taxi system around the Sound."

The first passenger ferries in Washington state, known as the "Mosquito Fleet," ran in the early 1900s. They went out of business in the wake of a strike in 1935 and the escalation of labor costs after World War II, according to the Washington State Department of Transportation Web site.

Cross-Sound ferries for both passengers and cars became successful in the 1950s.

But local officials in communities around Puget Sound increasingly note the advantages of passenger-only service as well.

West Seattle already has water taxi service across Elliott Bay to downtown Seattle and a passenger-only ferry to Vashon Island during the summer.

Des Moines, Tacoma, Gig Harbor and Kitsap County officials have been involved in a discussion about other possible water taxi routes.

As the Puget Sound Passenger Ferry Coalition, they have begun working with state legislators and King County Councilwoman Julia Patterson, D-SeaTac, who is also chairwoman of the Puget Sound Regional Council's Transportation Policy Board.

"So the deal was we needed to get a study, a regional study going to look at routes and the way this could work," White said. "At the Puget Sound Regional Council level she (Patterson) was able to get $250,000."

This grant is funding a regional study now underway that will examine passenger-only ferry service around the Sound.

Nelson/Nygaard Associates, a Portland-based consulting firm that recently conducted a successful passenger-only ferry study and trial in San Francisco, has been awarded the contract.

White is expected to serve on its advisory committee.

"In November, we went down for a field trip in San Francisco, a whole group of us, legislators, cities, council members from the region," White said.

Des Moines Harbormaster Joe Dusenbury said the ferry coalition is proposing San Francisco's system as a model for local water taxi service.

Des Moines is particularly well suited to a water taxi system because it is located close to the airport, Tacoma and Seattle, White noted.

The city would build a dock off the existing Des Moines pier to accommodate water taxis, and would use environmentally friendly boats that carry 150-200 people," she said.

"The way I see it is we have a water highway system which is totally under-utilized. We can only build so many freeways.

"It (a water taxi) can definitely be a way for people to get around, an alternative to gridlock on freeways. It could also be great for tourism for cities," White added.

One challenge facing Des Moines is the fact that, while San Francisco's water taxi organizers work with one authority, local organizers would have to interface with multiple ground and water transportation authorities.

The cost of water taxi service also has not been determined, White said. That will be included in the feasibility study of routes and where service should be launched.

With enough support, White speculated, Des Moines might be able to get a trial run going in time to ferry passengers to see the Tall Ships after they arrive at Commencement Bay in 2008.