For those of us who love the water like me, water taxis (or water buses) are just plain fun to see, ride, and be around. They are perfect for walking and bicycling work commuters who prefer not to have to deal with the street traffic. One of the New York City water taxis even has a specialty ride called the Bike the Brooklyn Bridge/Water Taxi Back Adventure. These nimble and nifty little boats can take you shore to shore without ever getting your feet wet and are a perfect form of mass transit for many urban settings, including inland cities on rivers or lakes (i.e. Winnipeg, Paris, Quad Cities, Pittsburgh, and Oklahoma City for example). Based on the list below, water taxi and/or water bus services can be found serving 14 states and 25 different nations.

Water taxis/buses are popular with the general public and commuters too. In the month of August of 2011 alone, the Chicago Water Taxi Company had 73,482 riders utilize its service along the Chicago River. In Brooklyn, ridership was well above expectations for the East River Service. The East River service had 448,670 riders in its first 17 weeks of operation, which was an astounding 40,000 ahead of projections for the entire year!

For urban planners, water taxis/buses are an excellent and cost-effective way to promote multi-modal mass transit in a city without huge and costly infrastructure improvements. Most of the infrastructure is already in place in the form of the waterway, lake, channel, harbor, or bay. On a slightly whimsical twist to the old adage, “just add a boat.“

Plans for a new water taxi service between Detroit, Michigan and Windsor, Ontario would be the first such international service and an exciting new commuting and tourism opportunity. Water taxis would be a viable mass transportation option for many cities dotting the Great Lakes shoreline, not just Chicago or Toronto, whether they are in the United States or Canada.

Cities and other places operating water buses and/or taxis around the planet include the following:

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Auckland, New Zealand

Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Bangkok, Thailand

Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Brisbane, Australia

Bristol, England, UK

Brunei

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Bydgoszcz, Poland

Cardiff, Wales, UK

Cape Town, South Africa

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Copenhagen, Denmark

Dubai, UAE

Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA

Gothenburg, Sweden

Guangzhou, China

Halifax Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia, Canada

Hamburg, Germany

Istanbul, Turkey

Jacksonville, Florida, USA

Karachi, Pakistan

Kobe, Japan

Kristiansund, Norway

Kragerø, Norway

Laughlin-Bullhead City, Nevada/Arizona, USA

London, England, USA

Long Beach, California, USA

Manchester, England, UK – Waxis (launched in 2010)

Nantes, France

Manila, The Philippines

Moscow, Russia

New York City, New York/New Jersey, USA (multiple services)

Niigata, Japan

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA – Bricktown Water Taxi

Orlando, Florida, USA

Osaka, Japan

Oslo, Norway

Paris, France

Panama City, Panama

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

Port of Spain, Trinidad

Potsdam, Germany

Quad Cities, Illinois/Iowa, USA – Channel Cat Taxi

Rotterdam, Netherlands

Seattle, Washington, USA

Sacramento, California, USA

Saint Petersburg, Russia

Seoul, South Korea

Shizuoka, Japan

Singapore

Spalding, England, UK

Stockholm, Sweden

Sydney, Australia

Tampa, Florida, USA

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Tokyo, Japan

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada – Seabus

Venice, Italy

Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

Walt Disney World Resort, Florida, USA

Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Xochimilco, Mexico City, Mexico

Yokohama, Japan

SOURCE: en.wikipedia.org. Here’s a weblink to a brochure on the Channel Cat Taxi service across the Mississippi River in the Quad Cities.