New water taxi service links Ottawa – Gatineau – Casino
16 Sep
The Gatineau dock (with beautiful view of Parliament Hill) for Au feel de l'eau's new environmentally friendly electric aquabus.
A new water taxi service is linking sites along the Ottawa and Gatineau Rivers. Au feel de l’eau operates a pollution-free electric boat that can hold up to 12 passengers, 2 wheelchairs and 4 bicycles.
Until October 9, it departs each morning at 9am from the Casino du Lac-Leamy, and arrives at the Ottawa wharf (located where the Rideau Canal empties into the Ottawa River, near the Bytown Museum) around 10:00am. At 10:15am, it begins to shuttle back and forth between Ottawa and a site on the Gatineau side of the Ottawa River near the Canadian Museum of Civilization until 12:20 when it departs Ottawa for the Casino again.
At 1:30pm, it leaves the Casino and between 2:35 and 6:15pm, it shuttles back-and-forth between Ottawa and Gatineau. The final run from Ottawa to the Casino departs at 6:15pm, arriving at 7:15pm.
If weather conditions permit, the company will continue the Ottawa-Gatineau shuttles for an additional week, until October 16. In 2012, the service will run between May and October.
The cost is $5 per person (tax included) for the Ottawa-Gatineau shuttles and $15 per person for the Ottawa-Casino shuttles.
The company also offers private group bookings.
UPDATE (September 18): Until further notice, the water taxi will operate in the afternoon only!
How about a commuter water taxi up and down the Rideau canal? I can see it now…espresso and croissants on board while you read your complimentary copy of the Financial Times. I’d pay big for that!
I love the idea. I wish we had something like that in Montréal.
Longue vie à Au feel de l’eau!
Montreal already has the “Navette Fluviale” shuttle from the Old Port to Longueuil Marina. I used it once, it was a real time saver. Even that’s not up to Vancouver’s Sea Bus, which sails back and forth between Waterfront Station in downtown Vancouver and Lonsdale Quay in North Vancouver, every 15 minutes during the day, as part of the regular transit system.
FABRITEKBOAT is the proud manufacturer of the AQUABUS, we would be delighted to build your dream in Montreal,
Ron Steben, president
Would like to know more about the boat – how it was made and esp. the electric components!