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≡ 2028 WATER TAXI PROPOSAL ≡
On Thursday, the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Executive Management Committee will receive a report on a proposed “water taxi” project between San Pedro and Long Beach, where the sailing competitions during the 2028 Olympic Games will be held.
The project was reviewed in a 44-page document with significant engineering input and distilled into a six-slide presentation that offered a clear overview:
● It would create a “transport-tainment” alternative to driving or taking public transit between the two sailing sites.
● Points of arrival and departure would be the San Pedro West Harbor and Long Beach’s Shoreline Village, close to all of the Long Beach events for the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
● A water-taxi trip – one-way – is estimated at 34 to 59 minutes with loading times of 10-20 minutes.
● The L.A. Department of Transportation’s existing Commuter Express program connects the two areas in 26 minutes.
● Personal automobile travel times were estimated at 18-26 minutes.
The report noted:
“Of that total trip time, 18 minutes of the route are within a currently regulated slow/no-wake zone, meaning that the time cannot be any faster regardless of vessel speed. This vessel trip time is longer than those of current on-land alternatives.”
The service was costed for 47 days, from the start of the Olympic Games on 14 July 2028 and the end of the Paralympic Games on 27 August, even though the Olympic Games close on 30 July and the Paralympics open on 15 August.
There are multiple choices offered for the vehicles to be used:
●$1.344 million for two hydro-electric boats, carrying up to 350 passengers each, taking 59 minutes for each one-way trip (8 round trips per day).
● $1.084 million for two 150-passenger, diesel-powered boats, taking 34 minutes per trip (12 round trips per day).
● $1.535 million for three 150-passenger, diesel-powered boats, taking 34 minutes per trip (18 round trips per day).
● $751,000 for two, 75-passenger, diesel-powered boats, taking 39 minutes per trip (12 round trips per day).
Metro has championed non-fossil fuel options in all of its services, so the thought of using diesel-fueled boats will be hard for it to support. But the hybrid-electric option is by far the slowest, makes the fewest trips per day, but offers the highest capacity at 5,600 seats per day.
Any such service would, of course, require a long list of permits, and whatever equipment is proposed would have to be matched up with the existing docks and for hybrid-electric boats, the availability of charging facilities. And then there is the question of how much tickets would cost.
The presentation notes three options if Metro wants to move forward with this concept, which was suggested as a promotional project that could be made permanent if successful:
● Contracting with a private operator, which would leave Metro out of the program completely, and eliminate most (if not all) oversight.
● Create a partnership with a private operator and providing some or all of the funding, but with considerable contractual control.
● Undertaking the program as a Metro project, which the presentation labels as “Infeasible.”
The next step is for Metro’s Executive Management Committee to decide if they want to go forward with this idea, and how. It is not required for either the Olympic or Paralympic Games (which does not have sailing on the program) and, as always, is subject to the ever-present questions around security:
“As Games planning progresses, the confirmed perimeters of security zones and vessel security requirements will impact the in-water operations and upland access to water taxi landings. Any security protocols for vessel and/or passenger screening may also require landing site space and additional operational requirements, adding potential impacts to operating costs and service schedules.”
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