Could Detroiters be hailing a water taxi soon?

Detroit's residents and visitors might be able to hop on a water taxi to six destinations on the Detroit River as soon as next year, and if plans come to fruition, ferry service between Detroit and Windsor could be in the works as well.

William Smith, chief financial officer of the Detroit RiverFront Conservancy, said regular water taxi service on the river to places like Belle Isle, Rivard Plaza and Cobo Center from late April or early May to September would be a boost to Detroit.

"This is the front door of Detroit. It just adds another amenity to our existing tourist infrastructure," Smith said.

The water taxi service is included in a $40,000 study the nonprofit conservancy undertook with Freshwater Transit in June 2014. It also incorporates 14 rubber-wheeled trolley stops at places like West Riverfront Park, Dequindre Cut and Harbortown to better connect neighborhoods to the riverfront, other area transit options and attractions, Smith said.

The fare for the trolley would likely be $1 and $5-$7.50 for the water taxi.

No funding is in place, but Smith sounded optimistic that corporations and foundations would step forward. He said about $4.2 million would be needed to launch it and provide initial operational funding. Getting such a system operational is more manageable because infrastructure for docking is already in place at the various locations for the water taxi, he said.

"This plan is not something that has to sit on a shelf and wait years and years," Smith said.

Smith said officials looked at other cities with successful water taxis, including Baltimore, Washington, D.C., New York and Tampa, Fla.

Area residents will get to see a version of the water taxi from downtown to Belle Isle during the Friday and Saturday of the Chevrolet Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix, which runs May 29-31. Details are expected to be finalized in the next couple of weeks, but the roundtrip ticket is expected to cost $10.

Officials at the Detroit/Wayne County Port Authority are also heading up an effort to develop a ferry service between the port authority terminal in Detroit and a Windsor landing spot, most likely near Caesars Windsor casino.

Officials had hoped to run demonstrations of the cross-border ferry during the Grand Prix weekend, but John Loftus, executive director of the Detroit/Wayne County Port Authority, said customs officials in the U.S. and Canada have shown some "reluctance" because of manpower and other issues that weekend, and it's possible it may not happen. Loftus is more hopeful that demonstration runs could be operational for the American Society of Association Executives Annual Meeting and Exposition at Cobo Center Aug. 8-11.

It's unclear when regular service between the two cities could be launched. But Loftus said the port authority has $2.4 million available through a grant from the Federal Highway Administration to spend either on a ferry service or to assist the conservancy with its water taxi service.

"If we're going to spend $2.4 million, I want to make sure we spend it properly," Loftus said.

He noted that in other parts of the world, ferry service is common and visitors often question why there is not a service between Detroit and Windsor.

If a ferry service were to launch, officials would like to provide customs operations on a permanent basis at the port authority terminal in Detroit, which is "perfectly suited for that type of service," according to David Cree, president and CEO of the Windsor Port Authority.

"This is something we've looked at on and off through the years. We think it'd be a great service between the two cities," Cree said.

Contact Eric D. Lawrence: elawrence@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @_ericdlawrence.