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26 • MarineNews • March, 2005 By Don Sutherland If you want to call yourself a taxi in New York, you've got things to live up to. Take tradition. A New York taxi always beat everybody to the punch. It was the first away when the light changed, weaving through otherwise orderly rows of cars and trucks, just in time to beat the next light. The ride not only was fast, it looked fast. The driver, all the while, dispensed world- ly wisdom on any theme, and if you asked, could name the best oyster bar in the entire city. He spoke New Yorkese - an "R," (if pronounced at all) could be a "W" or a "V" - but it was English. Etched in his mind was the map of the five boroughs, and all their one-way streets. He was friendly, considerate, and caring - waited until you were indoors when he dropped you off, before cruis- ing away for the next fare. Maybe this all happened only in the movies, and 1940s movies at that. But it left a myth, or at least an expecta- tion. You could get where you were going, with no ifs, ands, or buts, and you could feel protected all the way. That's a lot to live up to, in today's New York. Tom Fox understood this perfectly, as the New York Water Taxi began taking form. His would not be the first harbor service to call itself a water taxi - plenty of other harbors have boats by the same name, and even New York has the Liberty Marina Water Taxi. But would be only one New York Water Taxi, and you'd be able to tell it from the rest. "The fact that the boats are small and yellow is impor- tant," Mr. Fox told us in July 2003, soon after his first 16.4-m catamarans began skipping about their destina- tions, dashing along at 20 to 24 knots. "The branding is important, because all the other boats in New York har- bor are basically white. If you were designing for stealth, it would do very well to use white boats because nobody can see them. Ours are easy to see - and people like the zippy look. We're bright yellow. We have a checkerboard. Our people are friendly." To an ear tuned to New York, there might have been signals embedded in that description. Invisible white boats? Who has white boats? Well, there's Carnival Cruise Lines, there's the U.S. Coast Guard, there's New York Waterway. One of them runs high-speed ferries. Friendliness? Reports vary, across the uncounted boats painted white on New York Harbor. By October 2004, there were six boats painted yellow, scooting about in the copyrighted livery of the New York Water Taxi. Mr. Fox expected to have "a dozen boats by 2005." Out For A Spin "The first three Water Taxis had their air-conditioning units up front," said Anthony over his shoulder, as we barreled up the East River last autumn, "so their bows ride lower and pick-up more spray. The second three are almost exactly identical, but the bow rides higher because the air conditioners were put in the back." We were two minutes out of Pier 11, the main East River hub for New York's three main fast ferry services, Water Taxi NY’s New ‘Taxi Driver’ ATTENTION BOATBUILDERS: Do you need Performance Bonds? call TREY BRYANT 251-438-4001 We also specialize in... Marine Coverage: Hull & Machinery, P & I, Cargo, Marine General Liability Insurance as well as USL & H and Workers Compensation Insurance Commercial & Marine Insurance Brokers, Inc. 205 St. Louis Street/2nd Floor Mobile, Alabama 36602 Circle 212 on Reader Service Card If it weren't for the water, you'd think you were in a taxi. Capt. Vento, who prefers being addressed as Anthony, points-out a feature rushing uptown on the avenue - er, East River. (Photo: Don Sutherland.) MN MARCH05 4(25-32).qxd 3/4/2005 11:19 AM Page 26
