J Magazine Winter 2019

visit Jacksonville in its promotional
material says, “It’s
easier here.” That, however, is
not the story of the St. Johns River
taxis serving Downtown.
Come back in time to 1987 and
the opening of The Jacksonville Landing.
That’s when the idea of river taxis
ferrying passengers between the Northbank
and Southbank took hold. Chaos soon
followed, and the “water taxi wars” were on.
The city allowed numerous operators as long as their
vessels met U.S. Coast Guard requirements. The competition
was stiff with operators fighting for docking
space to pick up passengers. That was the case when
there were special events at the Landing or on the riverwalks
and there were enough passengers to make the
trips profitable. But at other times, not so much, and
operators often skipped the required stops, revealing a
rather large crack in the idea of the river taxis becoming
a part of a regular transportation system Downtown.
In 2002, the Jacksonville Waterways Commission
sought to turn the chaos into order. There would be one
operator. There would be regularly scheduled stops on
the Northbank and Southbank. A passenger wouldn’t
have to worry about being stuck on the wrong side of
the river. And there would be designated pickup points.
Jim Bailey, former publisher of the Jacksonville Financial
News and Daily Record and a current member
of the Downtown Investment Authority, served on the
Waterways Commission in 2002 and led the effort to
make the river taxi system work. In a recent interview,
Bailey recalled that the exclusive contractor could make
money with special events like Jaguars games.
But the regular stops when there were no passengers
or only a few to pick up proved too costly. “There’s
no money in going around in circles,” Bailey said.
In 2014, the river taxi service ended. That’s when
Heather and Frank Surface, owners of Lakeshore Marine
Center, entered into a long-term contract with the
city to operate the river taxi system. They have made the
system easier to use. There’s better signage at docking
Before being regulated by the Jacksonville Waterways Commission
in 2002, a water taxi on the St. Johns River pulls into the dock in
front of the Jacksonville Landing in 2001.
BOB SELF
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J MAGAZINE | WINTER 2019