Water Taxis For Washington D.C.?

29 May 2007 - 8:00am

Washington Post columnist Steven Pearlstein offers his ideas for a fleet of ferries shuttling passengers across the Potomac river.

"Here's an idea that could boost the tourist industry, alleviate traffic, encourage smart growth and open neglected urban areas for development while helping to unify an often fractured region: Water taxis."

"Transportation planners have been talking for decades about water transport, but it's been slow going. There are the charter cruises from the Southwest waterfront up and down the Potomac, the daily cruises down to Mount Vernon and more regular service from Georgetown to Old Town. And starting next April, with the opening of the first phase of National Harbor, there will be regular service across the Potomac to Alexandria and back"

"Other metropolitan areas have more experience and success integrating water transport into daily life. Think of New York, London, Paris, Istanbul, Hong Kong, Sydney and Vancouver, to name a few. Their networks of ferries and water taxis not only provide pleasant and convenient alternatives to cars, buses and subways, but like highway exits and train stations, act as magnets for development or recreation. They have helped to reorient life in cities that had turned their backs on waterfront areas and allowed them to decay."

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Source: The Washington Post, May 24, 2007
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All of that only scratches the surface of what's wrong with this study. The idea that complex urban development patterns and human behavior can be meaningfully studied according to one primary criteria — density — is wrong from the start.