water taxi

Water Taxis, Cowes, Isle of Wight

Water bus in Cardiff

Water taxi meets water bus in Rotterdam

Water bus in Bydgoszcz, Poland

Water taxi in Potsdam/Germany

Water taxi in Auckland

A pair of water taxis operating on the waterfront of Boston

Water bus in Bristol Harbour

Abra in Dubai

Thames Clipper in London

New York Water Taxi

Wassertaxi on Zürichsee

A water taxi or water bus, also known as a commuter boat, is a watercraft used to provide public transport, usually but not always in an urban environment. Service may be scheduled with multiple stops, operating in a similar manner to a bus, or on demand to many locations, operating in a similar manner to a taxi. A boat service shuttling between two points would normally be described as a ferry rather than a water bus or taxi.

The term water taxi is usually confined to a boat operating on demand, and water bus to a boat operating on a schedule. In North American usage, the terms are roughly synonymous.

Locations

Cities and other places operating water buses and/or taxis include:

• Amsterdam
• Auckland ^[1]
• Baltimore ^[2]
• Bangkok
• Boston ^[3]
• Brisbane (see also CityCat and CityFerry)
• Bristol (see also Bristol Ferry Boat)
• Brunei
• Buenos Aires, Tigre
• Bydgoszcz (Poland)
• Cardiff (see Cardiff Waterbus)
• Cape Town
• Chicago
• Copenhagen (See also Copenhagen Harbour Buses)
• Dubai (see also Abras)
• Fort Lauderdale
• Gothenburg ("Paddan" tour boat and "Älv-snabben" water bus lines)
• Guangzhou
• Halifax Regional Municipality
• Hamburg
• Istanbul^[4]
• Jacksonville, Florida
• Karachi
• Kobe
• Kristiansund, Norway
• Kragerø and surrounding area, Norway
• Laughlin, Nevada and Bullhead City, Arizona
• London (see also London River Services and Thames Clippers)
• Long Beach, California (see also Long Beach Transit)
• Nantes (see also Navibus)
• Manila (see also Pasig River Ferry Service)
• Moscow (River tram ^[5])
• New York City (see also Liberty Water Taxi and New York Water Taxi)
• New Zealand ^[6]
• Niigata
• Oklahoma City ^[7]
• Orlando, Florida
• Osaka (see also Osaka Suijō Bus)
• Oslo (see also Bygdøfergene, NBDS and Oslo Fergene)^[8]
• Paris (see also Voguéo)
• Panama
• Pittsburgh
• Potsdam (Germany)^[9]
• Quad Cities, Illinois/Iowa ^[10]
• Rotterdam/Dordrecht ^[11]
• Seattle (see also West Seattle Water Taxi)
• Sacramento
• Saint-Petersburg (Aquabus ^[12])
• Seoul^[13]
• Shizuoka
• Singapore (Singapore River)
• Spalding (River Welland)
• Stockholm^[14]
• Sydney
• Tampa^[1]
• Toronto (see also Toronto water taxis)
• Tokyo (see also Tokyo Cruise Ship and Tokyo Mizube Line)
• Trinidad- (see also Water Taxi Service) Port of Spain to San Fernando Water Taxi service inplemented in December 2008.
• Vancouver (see also Aquabus, Coastal Link Ferries, False Creek Ferries, English Bay Launch and SeaBus)
• Venice (see also Gondola and Vaporetto)
• Victoria, British Columbia (see also Victoria Harbour)^[15]
• Winnipeg
• Xochimilco, Mexico City (see also Chalupa)
• Yokohama (see also The Port Service and Keihin Ferry Boat)
• Walt Disney World Resort (Castaway Friendship)

On demand water taxis are also commonly found in marinas, harbours and cottage areas, providing access to boats and waterfront properties that are not directly accessible by land.

Incidents

On March 6, 2004, a water taxi on the Seaport Taxi service operated by the Living Classrooms Foundation capsized during a storm on the Patapsco River, near Baltimore's Inner Harbor. A total of 5 passengers died in the accident, which the National Transportation Safety Board determined was caused by insufficient stability when the small pontoon-style vessel encountered strong winds and waves. The company no longer operates water taxi vessels in Baltimore harbor.^[16]

See also

Media related to Water taxis at Wikimedia Commons

• Abra (boat)
• Chalupa (boat)
• Duffy-Herreshoff watertaxi
• Ferry, including hydrofoil, catamaran and hovercraft
• Gondola
• Moskvitch (ship) - Soviet "water tramway"
• Pleasure barge
• Rower woman
• Superfast Ferries

References