Hutzell: As Chesapeake Bay ferry proposals flounder, the future is a water taxi

To find Pat Vaillant, walk past the construction rubble at City Dock to the end of Prince George Street.

His water taxi is docked between two hidden piers. A Watermark Journey pilot since 2016, Vaillant waits there for passengers looking for the simplest way to get around the Annapolis Harbor.

Standing at the helm on a recent trip, he said he’s heard the buzz about Annapolis and Anne Arundel County setting up ferry links across the harbor and to Baltimore and Kent Island. He wondered why.

“Why would they do that when there’s already private companies?” he said.

Both local governments might be asking the same question, right about now. Ferry travel is a romantic idea, but when romance hits political and fiscal reality, the water gets rough.

Both proposals were launched with great fanfare, and as both move forward new challenges emerge.

At least for the foreseeable future, expanding transit on the Chesapeake Bay as an alternative to putting more cars on more roads is in doubt.

So, as it has been for the past 50 years, catching a ride to someplace on the water involves the private sector.

It requires a water taxi.

“We are trying to establish micromobility on the water that will cover that last-mile trip,” said Mike McDaniel, president and CEO of Baltimore Water Taxi. “We’re looking at this as a proof of concept in Baltimore, but we absolutely are looking at expanding it across the Chesapeake Bay.”

His company launched its taxi service this spring, in part to fill gaps in Baltimore’s waterborne trolley system, the Harbor Connector.

The public has an enduring interest in traveling by water on the Chesapeake Bay, whether for tourism or work. The opening of the Bay Bridge 70-plus years ago largely ended the long history of bay ferries.

Former Annapolis Mayor Gavin Buckley tapped into that nostalgia in 2022, winning $2.9 million from the federal Electric or Low-Emitting Ferry Pilot Program for a route across the city’s small harbor.

It was about climate change, sure, but also easing street congestion by providing another link to downtown parking.

The following year, the publicly supported tourism agency Visit Annapolis launched a 20-month study of tourism ferries connecting a handful of destinations around the Chesapeake. Five local governments expressed interest.

Anne Arundel County made the idea seem real, winning a $3.9 million grant in 2024 from the same ferry pilot program for service among Annapolis, Baltimore and Kent Island. The Maryland Department of Natural Resources expressed interest in connecting Sandy Point State Park, its most popular location, to the service.

Baltimore secured a $5.9 million grant to buy two new hybrid Harbor Connector ferries and upgrade its landings for people with disabilities.

Times change.

The U.S. Department of Transportation asked recipients to resubmit their applications, part of President Donald Trump’s purge of climate change and equity initiatives.

Baltimore lost its funding and shelved its project.

Anne Arundel kept its grant and launched an engineering study. But County Executive Steuart Pittman leaves office this year, and there’s no new money budgeted to keep the idea on track to launch in the 2030s.

Annapolis eliminated electric ferries in favor of diesel-electric hybrids. The new mayor isn’t sure he wants to move forward.

“Where my head is headed towards is the city issuing a request for proposals that would seek a private operator to run these ferries,” said Jared Littmann, who took office in December.

Watermark Journey sees the potential but remains doubtful about viability.

“We get calls from people wanting to get picked up, high up on the Severn,” said Alex Knoll, a company spokesperson. “There are people who would like to ride a water taxi from places different than what we service.

“But is that enough to go to the trouble of updating our vessels and services?”

Watermark started its service 40 years ago, alongside a charter fleet and day cruises out of Annapolis and Baltimore. Not much has changed.

Four small boats carry up to 17 passengers. From April to October, passengers call or radio for a taxi. They also can use the Where in Annapolis app to locate one of 54 stops on Back and Spa creeks and wave down a pilot.

Passengers are mostly tourists, arriving in Annapolis by car or boat. It’s too early to tell how a $100 million flood-prevention program and makeover around City Dock will affect traffic.

“You have to wonder what the word out on the water is,” Knoll said.

Baltimore is 10 times the size of Annapolis, and that may explain the greater interest in expanding. The Inner Harbor will face its own growing pains starting this fall with the $900 million Harborplace redevelopment.

Baltimore Water Taxi started a waterborne trolley service, the city-funded Harbor Connector, in 1975. McDaniel, who bought the company in 2010, sold it six years later and then bought it back in October.

The connector takes commuters, students and tourists on defined routes as far as Fort McHenry. The city adjusted it in March, but a 2025 survey found demand for more service.

McDaniel hopes water taxis will fill it.

“Eventually, we hope that the city and the residents see the value in expanding it,” he said.

Baltimore Water Taxi relies on the Transigo app developed by Gaithersburg software developer IT Curves.

Passengers can call or use the company website to book a trip, but the app works the way Uber and Lyft operate ride-sharing services — hailing a ride with your phone.

Transigo isn’t as robust as its land-based alternatives, but it’s a start.

“Within two years, we can have it so it’s a known commodity and people are using it,” McDaniels said. “It depends on the technology behind it.”

Maybe in a few years the federal government will support the idea of electric ferries again, or maybe the private sector will scale up to regional service.

Either way, the Chesapeake’s potential as a water highway is out there, just as it always has been.