Water Taxi Set for SouthSide Works
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
22 August 2011
By Jon Schmitz
If you're traveling between Downtown and the SouthSide Works, which
would be more desirable?
A breezy, 15-minute boat ride along the Monongahela River or a
??-minute slog by car along East Carson Street?
To J.D. Fogarty, development director for the Port of Pittsburgh
Commission, the choice is easy. "It would make a lot more sense to get
on a water shuttle than to get on Carson Street," he said.
Water taxi service is expected to begin between the two destinations in
early 2013, thanks in part to a $985,000 federal grant announced last
week toward development of a shuttle landing at SouthSide Works.
Advocates say despite the spotty success of water taxi ventures across
the last two decades here, the time might be ripe for another plunge.
The taxis have been popular as transport to events at PNC Park and
Heinz Field and for private parties but have not caught on as a regular
daily service. But a lot has changed, said Lisa Schroeder, president
and CEO of Riverlife.
"What is new ... is you have about a dozen new major public water
landing locations," she said, including those at the Rivers Casino,
Station Square, the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, the Strip
District and the Monongahela Wharf. "We feel we're reaching that
tipping point where a water taxi operator can offer a full range of
services."
"This seems like it's ready to go," Mr. Fogarty said, noting growth in
Downtown and riverfront housing and the number of riverside
attractions, including the casino.
He envisions Downtown office workers riding to the SouthSide Works for
an evening cocktail and also residents of the complex using the service
to commute to jobs Downtown or visit the casino.
"It is probably one of the most viable landings [for a water taxi]
because of the population density," he said.
"What's great about this [federal] grant is that it allows people who
don't have boats to get onto the rivers," said Susheela Nemani-Stanger,
senior project development specialist for Pittsburgh's Urban
Redevelopment Authority.
Mark Schiller, vice president of operations for Pittsburgh Water Limo,
which has plied the rivers here for about 12 years, said "if they put
it in, we'll make use of it."
He said the landing "is one step forward" toward regular water taxi
service on the rivers. "I think we're getting very close. A lot closer
than we were five or 10 years ago."
A key, he said, will be for his company, which operates a 49-seat taxi
called Miss Pittsburgh, to acquire a smaller, faster boat for longer
trips. Mr. Schiller said he has spent six months searching but the
boats are hard to find in the U.S.
The taxis would land near the Hofbrauhaus restaurant, where the URA is
building the $12.8 million South Shore Riverfront Park. It will have
switchback trails leading to the river, an amphitheater and other
amenities.
The park "is a great example of our efforts to connect residents to the
city's riverfronts, our most treasured natural assets," Mayor Luke
Ravenstahl said. "Accommodating a water taxi landing at this location
will build on these efforts and help us take multimodal transport in
Pittsburgh to the next level."
The Port of Pittsburgh Commission applied for the federal grant, which
was announced last week by U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood as
part of $18.8 million awarded to projects in Pennsylvania.
"We are extremely excited about it," Ms. Schroeder said. "The marina
and landing at the SouthSide Works is the final phase of a spectacular
riverfront park that is almost complete now."
The project is carving out river access on a tract that in its previous
life as a steel mill was 30 feet above the water level. It is adjacent
to the biking-hiking trail that will soon be complete from Downtown
through Cumberland, Md., and on to Washington, D.C.
The upper portion of the new park is "98 percent complete," and work
remains to be done on a section between a newly constructed river wall
and the river's edge, Ms. Nemani-Stanger said.
Mr. Fogarty said bids for construction will be opened in October and
the work will take about 14 months, wrapping up late next year. That
would allow taxi service to begin the following spring.
Jon Schmitz: jschmitz@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1868. Visit the PG's
transportation blog, The Roundabout, at http://www.post-gazette.com/roundabout.
Twitter: @pgtraffic.