“Guests on the Mosquito Fleet Company’s boat St. Nicholas watch as it backs toward the dock at the Langley Marina last week during a demonstration cruise organized the company and the city of Oak Harbor. The Alaska-based company took about 90 invited local officials on a free trip along Whidbey and over to Everett to generate interest in a private-public partnership to fund a passenger-only ferry route.Jon Jensen, staff photoDozens of government officials from Whidbey Island rode out Wednesday’s earthquake aboard a demonstration run of a passenger-only ferry.The trip, provided free by Mosquito Fleet Co., was designed to sell about 90 of them on passenger ferry service among various Whidbey locations and Everett.It was an easy sell.I hope something like this goes, said Langley Mayor Lloyd Furman, who boarded in Coupeville.Mosquito Fleet Co. provided petitions aboard that said, We support Mosquito Fleet’s efforts to provide ‘Water Bus’ service on Puget Sound. There were several signatures.The demonstration trip was coordinated with Island Transit, which provided transportation to and from the special cruise at several of its stops on Whidbey. Martha Rose, Island Transit director, told the group that land transportation has to work with water transportation. In my mind you can’t have a water bus without a transit bus to make that connection, she said. She said Island Transit has been talking with Mosquito Fleet Co. about finding money for a long-term demonstration project.During informal discussions several transportation officials said the key to making a water bus system work is getting commuters. During its recent one-week demonstration run from Clinton to Seattle, Mosquito Fleet didn’t get as many commuters as it had wanted, said company spokesman Robert Isaacson. The numbers were lower than we hoped, but that’s why we did it, he told the group. It would be a money-losing proposition, he said, without a partnership with government. This was just kind of a first step. We’ll go from there.In his comments on Wednesday’s demonstration, Isaacson said, To do the real water bus that we want to do, you need multiple departures and two boats. He also told the officials that a ferry is about more than getting people to and from work. Think of it not just for commuters, but to build up your waterfronts, he said.That was exactly what Oak Harbor officials wanted to hear, since that city is in the permit-seeking phase of a plan to build a two-section pier that would serve passenger ferries, private vessels and seaplanes.The boat used for Wednesday’s demonstration was the 150-passenger St. Nicholas, the same one used for passenger ferry service on the Clinton-Mukilteo route during wingwall construction at Mukilteo from November through January.In response to a question about the economics of the St. Nicholas on a route along Whidbey, Isaacson said the company also has smaller boats, for 110 and 49 passengers, that could be used in that service. Wednesday’s trip went from Everett to Oak Harbor, then stopped at Coupeville, Langley, Clinton and Everett before returning in reverse order. Each stop lasted only long enough to take on or leave officials from that area.The point of the trip was overshadowed for a few minutes on the Clinton-to-Everett portion after TV sets on board began broadcasting news of the earthquake. The captain announced that the boat would pause at Everett, Mosquito Fleet’s home port, for a few extra minutes because of the quake, but the trip resumed after a quick check of its offices at the port. News of the earthquake caused cell phones to pop up throughout the group of officials. When they learned that their offices were intact and operating, the focus returned to discussions of ferry service. Those hoping a test run might happen during the summer will be disappointed. Isaacson said his company has 18 boats, most of which are involved in whale-watching in Alaska, and none are available in the summer. “