City says damage to water taxi not normal; no decision yet on who pays

[thelakelander]

By David Chapman, Staff Writer

When the Native Choice was recently pulled from the water, it wasn't in the same condition it was a year ago.
There's a hole in one of the pontoons. A torn nose cone. Dents, dings and scratches throughout.

After a year of use as a water taxi, some wear-and-tear is to be expected — but who pays for the repairs has to be determined.

It won't be Harry Frisch, the Beaver Street Fisheries chairman, who stepped up last year to help the city continue the water taxi service amid a public spat between City Council and the mayor on the issue. Frisch spent close to $339,000 on two vessels, with the idea he'd recoup his costs by selling the boats once the city had a long-term plan in place.

Without almost $27,000 in work, according to a Tavares-based dealer, Frisch won't come close. The tab will be paid by the city and/or Lakeshore Marine Services, the operator for the past year.

Full article: http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=545933

[strider]

It does seem like one has been abused a bit though commercial service like this is abusive in nature to start with so perhaps a question could be: was the boat up to it to begin with? Another interesting question would be did the same operator always use the same boat?  Or perhaps, was this boat used far more than the other one?

[Ocklawaha]

While I believe the operation of the water taxi should in fact be handed over to a JTA-MARINE Division, I am NOT a fan of the craft. My family owned the Pelican Island Marina in Daytona Beach when I was in my late teens, experience with pontoon boats shows that they are horrible gas guzzlers next to a comparable DEEP-VEE or even the rough riding tri-hulls. New York, Chicago, Boston, Seattle, Norfolk, Portsmouth etc. all use standard hull boats, their economy and durability is lightyears ahead of the cheap pontoons. More-so when aluminum pontoons are operating in brackish water which will make short work of them. Savannah's 'Juliette Gordon' and 'Susie King Taylor' are lightyears more attractive then our platforms on two telephone poles are. I think this is key too, the boats in Savannah are not unlike Universal Studios or Disney's water taxi's, they have a charm of the old maritime era that Jacksonville grew up with, so much so one might drive there just to ride them.

Same old Jacksonville... "We have trolley's" belching fumes on rubber tires, and the water taxi's are just a step above that as at least they are real boats. Perhaps we should hire a consultant from Disney next time we come up with an idea?

[Noone]

Anyone else feel sorry for the Baltimore guys 2014-412? They come down from Baltimore and BRING two of their own boats. Set up an office. And they were a couple of butts short of the 350 seat RFP. Losers! So kick them to the curb and change the RFP to 120. I was at a meeting about Downtown water transportation and people asked how come they weren't invited. Pick and choose the winners and losers. Just pull all the pictures of everyone standing around these boats for the photo ops when Mayor Brown using the banking fund bought the boats without city council approval.

Visit Jacksonville!

HEY! We have a BARGE! Presentation today and it is on the agenda for the 9:30 am Jacksonville Waterways Commission meeting. Open to the Public. You can watch online at coj.net. Does Putnam county know about this?

[Know Growth]

Ocklawaha makes a good point about the vessel's construction, limited durability.I have seen the vessels up close while hauled out.
They do offer seating capacity, perform with relatively smaller engines."Economical".

Perhaps, after all, one gets what they pay for.And perhaps Mr. Frisch paid too much at the start?

Cheers to Lakeside Marine, Heather & Frank Surface for their commitment and passion!

[Noone]

The jury is still out on who was captaining the vessel that hit the Mathews Bridge?

[ChriswUfGator]

Ocklawaha makes a good point about the vessel's construction, limited durability.I have seen the vessels up close while hauled out.
They do offer seating capacity, perform with relatively smaller engines."Economical".

Perhaps, after all, one gets what they pay for.And perhaps Mr. Frisch paid too much at the start?

Cheers to Lakeside Marine, Heather & Frank Surface for their commitment and passion!

+1

I often have to walk by one or the other of the water taxis (I dock at Sadler where they haul out). "Durability" is not the word that comes to mind when you see these oversized pontoon boats up close. The other thing is, they're really arguing over $27k to fix a year's worth of wear and tear? On a commercial vessel? Come on...have these people never had a boat before? That is not a whole lot of money. Pretty much anybody with a good size powerboat spends that much, and that's on boats that get used one day a week. This is either a political football, or somebody has unrealistic expectations of what it costs to keep a well maintained boat.

[Know Growth]

+1

I often have to walk by one or the other of the water taxis (I dock at Sadler where they haul out). "Durability" is not the word that comes to mind when you see these oversized pontoon boats up close. The other thing is, they're really arguing over $27k to fix a year's worth of wear and tear? On a commercial vessel? Come on...have these people never had a boat before? That is not a whole lot of money. Pretty much anybody with a good size powerboat spends that much, and that's on boats that get used one day a week. This is either a political football, or somebody has unrealistic expectations of what it costs to keep a well maintained boat.
[/quote]

10/4 ChrisFUGator!

Indeed,the vessels are the equivalent of a lightly constructed mobile home. The relatively small engines that power the beasts also pose challenges with maneuvering, particularly under heavy passenger load,currents.

"BOAT" stands for "Break Out Another Thousand".
Indeed,the angst over $$$ either a political tactic or simply entrenched lack of knowledge.

Bad deals get worse.