- April 24, 2024
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There are plenty of hurdles to making water transit service to Longboat Key and the barrier islands a reality: Sarasota Bay’s intermittent shallow depths, wading through the bureaucratic permitting processes of five municipalities and two counties and financing an option that car-obsessed residents might be hesitant to use.
Also, will a couple hundred people traveling by bay each day really solve local traffic problems?
As for the latter question, Town Manager Dave Bullock takes an anything-is-better-than-nothing approach favored by the Longboat Key Revitalization Task Force.
“That’s not a lot of cars today,” he said. “But get in line at St. Armands trying to get across to U.S. 41, and take out 100 cars, does it make you feel better or worse?”
And despite the barriers to starting up such a service, three operators have surfaced with plans to do just that. Though they are still in various stages of the startup process — and there are a lot more questions than answers — here’s a glimpse at the services and potential routes they may take.
Boat capacity: 125 - 149 passengers
Estimate launch date: March 1
On Feb. 6, Paradise Boat Tours captain Sherman Baldwin was supposed to go before the Sarasota City Commission for a permit to start up a ferry service between the mainland and Bradenton Beach.
City staff ended up pulling the item from the agenda because they said Sherman needed an embarkation agreement at the specified launch points. Since the law was enacted in 2003, Sherman said he has been the first person to attempt to navigate the regulations, which include the requirement of a business license — but not how much that would cost — and providing licensing documentation that by federal law is supposed to stay on a captain’s person at all times.
“I’m like the petri dish of the ordinance,” Sherman said. “So I’ve come up against chicken-or-the-egg scenarios.”
Still, Paradise Boat Tours is slated for a Feb. 21 date before city commissioners to consider a permit for routes from Bayfront Park or Marina Jack, or Centennial Park farther up the North Trail to the Historic Bridge Street Pier in Bradenton Beach.
And Sherman predicts the service will be self-sustaining —it will cost $12.50 round trip, and his staff is calculating discounted annual, monthly or 10-day pass options.
“Some of the applicants are looking for municipal money,” he said. “We don’t need any of it.”
As for the “first-mile-last-mile” problem, which involves solutions to how to move people around after they arrive at their destination, Sherman said he is in talks with Uber and Lyft for general travel, and Sarasota Memorial Hospital for a shuttle service to the hospital.
The bottom line for Paradise Boat Tours: This would be a service to help with traffic, not just take tourists sightseeing.
“The very foundation of our business model is for locals, commuters, day-trippers and year-rounders,” Sherman said.
Boat capacity: 100 - 120 passengers
Estimate launch date: N/A
For the past nine months, Tampa Bay Ferry & Taxi Passenger Ferry liaison Bob Myers has worked 50- to 60-hour weeks trying to tackle the myriad ordinances and regulations that come with establishing ferry services.
“I’ve been busier than a one-legged man at an ass-kicking contest,” he said with a laugh before one of his meetings last week with municipal leaders.
In a recent example of those challenges, one of his firm’s ferries was stopped by the U.S. Coast Guard because there was a bicycle on board — the vessel wasn’t registered as a cargo ship. Though the company eventually sorted out the issue, the incident was indicative of the hidden hurdles in operating a water taxi or ferry.
“There’s a lot of tricky little minefields,” Myers said.
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, 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 of Sarasota 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 Key, and another as far south as Siesta Key.
Ever the optimist, 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.
Boat capacity: 20
Estimated launch date: N/A
Most specifically affecting Longboat Key is Bradenton Beach-based Adventure Away, which will soon launch a water taxi connecting Whitney Beach Plaza, Bayfront Park, Mar Vista Dockside Restaurant & Pub, Cortez and the 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, though the 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.”
