Public or private transportation vessel
Water Bus in Tigre, Buenos Aires
Water taxis parked at Labadie Beach, Haiti
Water Taxis, Cowes, Isle of Wight
Water taxi meets water bus in Rotterdam
A pair of water taxis operating on the waterfront of Boston
A water taxi operating on the waterfront in
Puerto Ayora, Galapagos Island of Santa Cruz.
Water bus in Bristol Harbour
A water taxi or a water bus is a watercraft used to provide public or private transport, usually, but not always, in an urban environment.[1] 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.
The earliest water taxi service was recorded as operating around the area that became Manchester, England.[citation needed]
Locations
Cities and other places operating water buses and/or taxis include:
- Alapuzha Water Taxi[2][3]
- Alexandria, Virginia
- Amsterdam
- Annapolis, Maryland
- Antwerp
- Auckland[4]
- Bahrain
- Baltimore
- Bangkok
- Berlin (see: de:Fährverkehr in Berlin)
- Bordeaux
- Boston[7]
- Bremen
- Brisbane
- Bristol
- Brussels
- Brunei
- Bucharest
- Budapest
- Buenos Aires, Tigre
- Bydgoszcz, Poland
- Cardiff
- Cap-Haïtien, Haiti (at Labadee beach)
- Cape Town
- Caye Caulker
- Charleston[8]
- Chicago
- Copenhagen
- Davao City
- Dhaka
- Dubai
- Abras
- RTA water taxis (recently introduced)
- Erie, Pennsylvania
- Fort Lauderdale
- Galápagos Islands
- Geneva
- Gothenburg
- Älvsnabben ferry
- Paddan[9]
- Guangzhou, China
- Halifax Regional Municipality
- Hamburg
- Helsinki
- Hertford
- Ho Chi Minh City
- Hong Kong:
- Istanbul[10]
- Jacksonville, Florida
- Karachi
- Kobe
- Kochi
- Kragerø and surrounding area, Norway
- Kristiansund, Norway
- Lake Ozark, Missouri[11]
- Laughlin, Nevada and Bullhead City, Arizona
- Leeds
- Lisbon
- London
- Long Beach, California
- Malta
- Manila
- Moscow (River tram[citation needed]
- Mumbai (Catamarans and ferries)
- Nantes
- National Harbor, Maryland
- New York City
- New Orleans - Baton Rouge, Louisiana: Mississippi River from mouth to Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Belle Chasse Marine, Port Ship Service, Crescent Ship Service and Weber Marine.
- New Zealand[12]
- Niigata
- Nur-Sultan
- Oklahoma City[13]
- Orlando, Florida
- Osaka
- Oslo
- Panama
- Paris
- Potsdam, Germany[15]
- Quad Cities, Illinois/Iowa[16]
- Rotterdam/Dordrecht[17]
- Sacramento
- San Francisco
San Martín de los Andes[18]
•Salmaris Water Taxi Trogir
Water taxi in San Martín de los Andes
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Water taxi near the train station, Grand Canal, Venice
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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 five 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.[25]
