In the center, is a dotted line with a little boat. Several of the alternatives proposed by the NPS included some sort of 'water taxi' across the Mississippi. Now that the design teams have submitted their proposals. We can see some more serious attempts to explain how this might work.
In the SOM plan, one boat could probably make a loop every five to ten minutes, but it is hard to say why anyone would be compelled to take such a ride.
The Weiss/Manfredi boat loop implies that the Mississippi is a still lake that they can make artful ovals on. The SOM plan at least recognized that the river has a current. The W/M boat loop is intended to be one accompanied by a tour guide narrating facts and dates.
Most views of the plans are similar to that held by Alex Ihnen at UrbanSTL,
... I'm not convinced that a ferry service connecting the two riverbanks works well, crossing under the Eads and possibly the PSB and MacArthur would add some excitement and opportunity for education, more similar to a tour boat exploring the Golden Gate, or the architectural boat tours of Chicago.
In response, it should be pointed out that the arch grounds already have two boats offering tours up and down the river. These are the Tom Sawyer and Becky Thatcher,
I don't believe St. Louis needs more tour boats, we just been better awareness of the ones we have. What we do need is a better public transportation network, and boats should be a part of that.
In the past, I tried to make a case for the Admiral becoming a floating museum space shared between the Alton River Museum and the Museum of Westward Expansion. The Admiral could go up and down the river all day between Alton and downtown. It'd take some time, but there would be plenty of exhibits to look at in the mean time.
In addition to Alton there are a number of notable places in the St. Louis area that might be served by some sort of floating transit.
St. Charles and Chesterfield might be about the right distance for a successful ferry service, provided their respective waterfronts were attractive enough places to visit. Kimmswick, Herculaneum, and St. Gen have great little riverfront street grids that should be visited. It isn't unreasonable to hope these could connect to downtown somehow.
Rivertowns should play to their strengths. St. Louis has a lot of navigable water. Plenty of cities around the world integrate boats into their transit system. Some with lakes, some with canals, and some with rivers. Bangkok has a great range of ferries and small boats for hire. Venice is world famous for its gondolas. Battery Park in NYC has quite a few connections. How about Hong Kong?
Hong Kong has two main areas. There is Hong Kong Island, to the south, and Kowloon, the area opposite it across Victoria Harbour. Each has its own character, and each is slowly growing towards the other as new real estate deals fill in the water to make new property. There are several ways to cross Victoria Harbour, but taking an MTR train under it is the least scenic.
Taking the Star Ferry from one side to the other is something everyone must do when they visit Hong Kong.
It's a short trip integrated into the larger public transit system. Regular citizens take the ferry every day. There are twelve boats running on a few different routes at regular intervals.
Taking the ferry costs about the same as a ride on the subway, and the interface is more or less the same. You use these machines.
and you can get a token for a couple HK dollars.
If you're not a tourist, you'll use an octopus card.
Remember from last year's post on smart cards that the octopus card can be used almost anywhere: McDonald's, 7-11, the subway, wherever.
It is just a chip, so it need not be a card. It can be a keychain, a pen, or part of your cellphone. You can load money onto it anywhere, and you can use everywhere. It is the same as carrying cash, but faster to use. It is not linked to your identity. If you lose it, you only lose the money you loaded onto it. There is no credit or connection to your bank account.
By connecting the octopus cards to the Star Ferry and the MTR (subway), Hong Kong unites two different transportation companies under the same unifed payment system and user experience.
Regular people walk to the pier, tap their card on the reader, walk through the turnstile, and hop on the boat without any real hassle.
The informal interior of the boats add a lot to the experience. They fit a lot of people comfortably, the windows are open, and the seats are spaced with leg room between. You can smell the saltwater and feel the wind. The modestly lit interior does not obscure the view of the skyline at night.
The Star Ferry is a great example of what St. Louis boat transit could look like. Metro has aleady talked about the eventual introduction of smart card technology, which would have the potential of making boats, trains, and buses more or less equal in the eyes of the user.
Putting a ferry station in by the arch is a great idea, but the boats have to actually go somewhere. Connecting to Alton, Kimmswick, Lemay, or wherever makes far more sense than just crossing the river to East St. Louis. The two ferry stations on SOM's map should be two stops on a transit line going up and down the river. Imagine a transit map with several light rail lines, a few BRT lines, and two boat lines for our two big rivers. Boats + Buses + Light Rail + the Arch = Gateway to St. Louis
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