For some working in downtown Chicago, daily commutes are about to get a whole lot wetter.
The Chicago Water Taxi will resume service three days a week starting Sept. 5.
A lone boat will make trips three days a week, from Tuesday to Thursday, between Ogilvie Transportation Center in the West Loop and Michigan Avenue in Streeterville. The West Loop stop is located between Ogilvie and Union Station, while the Michigan Avenue stop is located near the intersection of North Rush Street and East Kinzie Street.
The fall water taxi will run during rush hour, with trips every 15 minutes from 6:30 to 9:15 a.m. and again from 3:15 to 5:30 p.m. The first trip of the morning will leave from Ogilvie and the last trip will depart from Michigan Avenue.
The taxi is operated by Wendella Tours and Cruises, which also runs architectural boat tours down the Chicago River and into Lake Michigan.
The boats ran only on the weekends in 2021 and 2022, after the COVID-19 pandemic sent typical river commuters into work-from-home mode. Wendella chose Tuesday through Thursday based on data from Metra and Kastle Systems, a security company which tracks swipes into office buildings, said Andrew Sargis, chief of operations for the taxi.
“A majority of commuters will be working onsite those days, so those are the days we’re going to start,” Sargis said.
Metra reported a slight dip in commuting in August, which Sargis attributes to vacations.
Water taxi service is expected to stop in late November, though Sargis said Wendella might run boats into the winter or expand to other days of the week depending on demand.
A potential plan to stop service in late November and restart in the spring could also be in the works if the fall commuter taxi proves popular enough, Sargis said.
“We’re excited to get going again, and we really hope people turn out,” Sargis said.
Wendella has been running water taxis since 1962. Named RiverBus in 1999, the bright yellow boat rebranded to Chicago Water Taxi in 2007.
Chicago Water Taxi suspended service in 2020 at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and has attempted to restart three times in the years since, Sargis said. Weekend service in 2021 and 2022 catered more to tourists than to daily commuters, 400,000 of whom rode the Chicago Water Taxi between March and November 2019.
Starting Sept. 5, the taxi is back to courting commuters, Sargis said.
“Ultimately the water taxi started as a service for locals,” Sargis said. “Throughout the years, we slowly started going to areas that were more touristy and running on weekends. And that’s something we may or may not plan to do in the future.”
The sole Chicago Water Taxi on the fall route seats 95 passengers at a time. Riders can purchase a 10-ride pass for $25 or a single-ride pass for $6.
Shoreline Sightseeing, another Chicago boat operator, will also continue running water taxis into the fall. The service, which also operated daily this summer, makes seven stops between Navy Pier and Chinatown. Tickets range from $5 to $21 depending on age and route, with day passes for $30 (or $12 for children).
Shoreline puts out a unique schedule each day based on weather conditions. Weather cancellations and delays become more likely in October and November, said Shoreline Water Taxi employee Vanessa Smith.
“Usually, we try and run as late as we can, but it’s all weather dependent,” Smith said.
As the beloved yellow Chicago Water Taxi prepares for duty, Sargis says he hopes Metra customers whose final destinations are River North and Streeterville see the river taxi as the most convenient option.
“We know it’s a better quality of commute than most land transit, just because you’re out in the river and there’s no traffic,” he said.
