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and already we knew about the man in the driver's seat: he was named Anthony (not "captain," he mentioned), in his early twenties, engaged, grew up around the maritime communities of Brooklyn and

Long Island. "I always figured I'd be somewhere out here, doing something like this," he said. He had some advice about docking around Long Island.

There seemed to be a few things you'd recognize in the old-fashioned cabbie. But it's a new age, a different taxi, so what is the protocol at the end of the ride? Tip him? Salute him?

In Name, Mostly

In the words of the designers, Nigel Gee

Associates, "Calling the 16m catamarans water taxis is something of a misnomer as each [is] fitted out with 54 passenger seats, a small refreshment kiosk and a toi- let on the aft deck." In short, the New

York Water Taxi is a ferry. A high-speed ferry around the lower one-third of Man- hattan, to Queens, Brooklyn, and New

Jersey.

It's the new kid on the block, in a mar- ket pioneered and dominated by New

York Waterway. Where Waterway started essentially from scratch, New York Water

Taxi had them to play off.

The festive flair of the boats owes much to the arches forward at both sides, which extend the curve of the upper deck down to the main deck and seem to round-off the bow. They look aerodynamic from the front, streamlined, speedy, and most of all, unique. The glassed-in booth protruding on the main deck, the one-seat wheel- house, completes the raked effect with the slope back from its nose. Altogether, the extended architecture revives something thought lost in public transportation, high spirit and charm.

High spirits are recommended, aboard any of New York's fast harbor ferries. The ride certainly involves motion. In many more directions, more suddenly, than peo- ple would find on the subway. Movements are sharp and abrupt, and the passenger is glad for those 54 seats. The waters around

New York have an irregular surface and their share of flotsam, and staccato maneuvers are all quite normal for a fast boat. On 11th Avenue, they'd be alarming.

With next month's arrival of the first of two larger New York Water Taxis - Incat designs, all-aluminum, built by Gladding-

Hearn - Coast Guard certification lingo settles what to call the craft: "USCG Sub- chapter T, 149 passenger Ferry and/or 99 passenger Water Taxi."

Not Just Another Happy Face

Whether there's a market for a water- borne service more literally taxi-like - a private personal transportation vehicle rented by-the-mile with chauffeur, flagged-down from the shore - is yet to be demonstrated. For now, with whatever sense of carnival dashes along with them,

New York Water Taxi's first half-dozen boats also bring traits of the serious public conveyance.

For passengers waiting at the dock, especially a busy one like Pier 11, the bright destination boards identify each boat from a distance. Even if Lou Cama- cho weren't on hand as dispatcher and dis- penser of directions, Water Taxi's riders would easily know when to get up for boarding.

For such yellow craft, the New York

Water Taxis are doggedly green, a point to make note of in a city that has grown emissions-conscious. Tom Fox cites their

Detroit Series 60 engines as atmosphere- friendly, while the design of the hulls should be gentle on the water.

The question of wakes, the damage they cause and the responsibilities they impose, has been contentious in New

York, the pitch of the clamor over the years rising in apparent parallel with the increase in high-speed ferries.

New York Waterway took a lot of the heat, particularly after impressing several non-ferry vessels into emergency service following the 9/11 attacks. Management acknowledged the temporary boats' short- comings compared to their purpose-built ferries, assured their discontinuance as soon as could be (now done), and demon- strated a new tracking system that would blow the whistle, in effect, on any Water- way skipper going too fast. "You're responsible for your wake," one member of the anti-wake coalition repeat-

Water Taxi 28 • MarineNews • March, 2005

New York Water Taxi Ed Rogowski zips along at dusk. Designed by Nigel Gee Associates, powered by two Detroit Series 60s, the Derektor-built catamarans make 25 knots at top speed, 22 for service. (Photo: Don Sutherland.)

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