City moves forward with water transit plans

Sherman Baldwin wants to help fix Sarasota’s traffic problems. He just has to find a place to dock his boat first.

Baldwin, the general manager of transportation company TevaTan, got unanimous approval to operate a ferry and on-demand water taxi service at Tuesday’s City Commission meeting. TevaTan LLC Co., which operates Paradise Boat Tours in Sarasota Bay, plans to run a ferry route from the Historic Bridge Street Pier in Bradenton Beach to the bayfront near downtown Sarasota.

The service will cost $12.50 per round-trip, Baldwin said, with a capacity around 125 passengers. He’s targeting year-round residents hoping to avoid the traffic that comes with traveling from Anna Maria Island to mainland Sarasota.

“Our service will be focusing on commuters, day-trippers, locals getting around Southwest Florida without the use of a vehicle,” Baldwin said. “We think that’s really important — the tourists will be a bonus.”

It’s unclear, though, where the embarkation point will be in the city. The approval gives TevaTan six months to obtain an agreement that allows the ferry service to use a piece of property to drop off and pick up passengers.

Baldwin has identified three city-owned properties he believes would work: O’Leary’s, Marina Jack or Centennial Park. All three properties have private leaseholders. So far, none of them has been willing to accommodate the ferry.

He said the best option is Centennial Park, where the city has a lease agreement with the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary. Although he said the commission’s preliminary approval would make it easier to obtain an embarkation agreement, he also encouraged the city to modify its leases so his service could use one of the properties he’s targeted.

Another detail yet to be addressed: What happens before and after residents actually get onto the ferry? The city’s water taxi licensing ordinance, written in 2003 but never actually acted upon until now, says any service must have adequate parking at its embarkation point.

City Parking Manager Mark Lyons said the lot near the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall is a logical fit, though there are some challenges that might complicate things.

“It has the capacity to handle daytime traffic,” Lyons said. “There are nighttime parking spaces in the area, too, but it’s hard to predict if the Van Wezel is going to be overflowing and what their capacity needs will be.”

“We’re blessed with our waterways. We should use them.” — Sherman Baldwin

Despite some unanswered questions, the City Commission was enthusiastic about TevaTan’s proposal. For more than a decade, the city has considered a water taxi as an option for addressing regional traffic issues.

“In many ways, it can be a game-changer,” Vice Mayor Shelli Freeland Eddie said.

The city’s original vision for a water taxi service included several stops between the mainland and the barrier islands in Sarasota and Manatee counties. Baldwin said it would be difficult for a large boat to serve Longboat Key, but he hopes TevaTan’s smaller on-demand water taxi will be able to help fill in that gap.

Baldwin isn’t the only one interested in bringing a transportation service to the bay, either. The city is revising its water taxi ordinance to make it easier for other people to enter the market, and City Engineer Alex DavisShaw said several companies have reached out to the city to express interest in a ferry or water taxi service.

Here’s two other businesses that could bring their boats to Sarasota soon:

Tampa Bay Ferry & Taxi

Boat capacity: 100 - 120 passengers

Tampa Bay Ferry & Taxi operates routes touching three municipalities in Pinellas County across Boca Ciega Bay, and is in talks with several others for expansion. The firm also runs a route from Fort De Soto Park to Egmont Key.

Locally, Tampa Bay Ferry & Taxi Passenger Ferry liaison Bob Myers originally hoped for an east-west connector stretching from the shoreline near the Sarasota and Manatee county line, a short trek from Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport, and Bradenton Beach.

Right now, he’s working through the city’s permitting process to launch from Marina Jack, the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall or the 10th Street Boat Ramp with service to City Island, near Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium and St. Armands Circle. That could include a connection at the Longboat Key Moorings on the south end of the island, and another as far south as Siesta Key.

Myers hopes to have some connection across the bay operating before next season but acknowledged it would take a lot of persistence.

“You chug along, you chug along and soon enough that flower starts to bloom — pardon my mixed metaphor,” Myers said.

Adventure Away

Boat capacity: 20 passengers

Bradenton Beach-based service Adventure Away is narrowing its focus on Longboat Key, though its scope could expand once it starts operating.

The company will soon launch a water taxi connecting Whitney Beach Plaza, Bayfront Park, Mar Vista Dockside Restaurant & Pub, Cortez and the Historic Bridge Street Pier, with additional stops to be announced in the coming weeks.

The company plans to launch service with a 27-foot Carolina Skiff and tackle the “first-mile-last-mile” problem with bicycle-share opportunities at the Historic Bridge Street Pier on Bradenton Beach and Whitney Beach on Longboat Key.

Details haven’t been finalized, said Walter Loos, managing partner of Adventure Away.

Further, he hopes to partner with the two larger ferry services for a hop-on-hop-off operation, and bring Sarasota County Area Transit and Manatee County Area Transit into talks with the newly formed public-private entity called the Gulf Coast Transit Partnership, for which Loos is a founding member.

“No matter what it is, there are critics out there, and we have done extensive research, and we’ve seen in other communities where this has had a meaningful impact,” he said. “At this point, we feel we need to take on a leadership role for the businesses and our communities and present some different solutions to deal with congestion and encourage people to use carless travel.”