A new rideshare app is coming to Baltimore that will allow users to do something Uber or Lyft can’t — order a boat.

And not just any boat — rather, one with a household name around the Inner Harbor.

“I don’t want to toot my own horn, but Water Taxi is pretty strict about having good captains,” said Alicia Tyrell, a 10-year veteran of Baltimore’s harbor, as the 11-passenger Nimble rose and fell with the tide by the Rusty Scupper last week.

In a matter of weeks, the small ship that is part of the Baltimore Water Taxi fleet will be available for on-demand rides at any dock it typically serves.

The Water Taxi, Charm City’s least-heralded transit service (but the one that offers the best onboard views) just turned 50 years old. To celebrate, the company is trying something entirely new — an on-demand ride-hailing (sail-hailing?) app — while continuing to plan for expanded routes and service in the future.

The new service will use two 11-passenger boats that are part of the company’s fleet, said President and CEO Michael McDaniel. The company also plans to add more boats for the on-demand service in future years. Users of the app will be able to track their boat and their spot in line (if there is one), and get walking directions to where to hop aboard.

In time, destinations beyond what the Water Taxi currently serves become available, as the service looks to expand to Baltimore Peninsula, Cherry Hill and even to places beyond the site of the former Key Bridge.

“For us to still be around 50 years after we started and having a vision for the future ... is a pretty amazing step,” McDaniel said. “We have a very small footprint, but we’re providing a pretty big task and impact to the City.”

In 1975, then-Mayor William Donald Schaffer helped kickstart the first voyage — a short trip between the new Science Center and Harborplace — as a sort of proof of concept for a transit service along the water as new development cropped up around it.

McDaniel, a retired Marine Corps infantry officer, bought the company in 2010 in part out of his love for the water. It sold to Under Armour founder Kevin Plank’s Sagamore Ventures six years later, but McDaniel stayed at the company’s helm.

Today, the fleet of 14 boats, which includes two owned by the City and leased to the company, has three primary service types:

• The Harbor Connector — three free, city-subsidized, point-to-point routes including Fells Point to Locust Point, Canton Park to Locust Point, and Pier 5 by the National Aquarium to Fede ral Hill. Each route operates from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m., Monday to Friday.
• The Harbor Trolley — three ticketed lines, costing $12 to $19 for an all-day pass, including a four-stop Inner Harbor loop, the “Local Line” sailing between the Fells Point’s Broadway Pier, Locust Point and Canton’s Lighthouse Point, and the “Fort Line” between Fells Point and Fort McHenry. Operating days and hours vary seasonally.
• Private charters.

The Trolley used to see as many as 250,000 riders a year, McDaniel said, but is only on track for 25,000 this year after the coronavirus pandemic exacerbated already declining numbers. The company has tried offers like its $150 annual pass, which scores unlimited rides for the pass holder and three guests, to bring folks back on board, but ridership continues to pale in comparison to the free Connector.

The Connector is poised to get back to pre-pandemic ridership before the end of the year. In 2019, that was about 300,000 annual passengers.

So as the tides changes, so too may the Water Taxi’s plans.

Long term, the company will focus on expanding the Connector — more routes and destinations, longer operating hours that include weekends, and the possibility of an actual loop between all docking points instead of the three, point-to-point lines it currently operates, McDaniel said. Boats will remain available for private charter, but the Harbor Trolley service may get phased out.

“We can activate [new] routes relatively easily,” McDaniel said.

His crew of 35, roughly half of whom are certified captains, doesn’t have to pave roads or get new right-of-way permits, he said.

Much like Water Taxi ridership, Baltimore’s crown jewel waterfront is making its own sort of comeback: water quality has improved remarkably in recent decades and new development, including a bold plan for Harborplace, continues to crop up.

But one thing in particular appeared to excite McDaniel the most — the Harbormaster, a position within the city’s transportation department, is back.

“Expanding opportunities for Baltimoreans and visitors to travel by boat is an added benefit for all,” said Harbormaster Mike McGeady in an emailed statement in support of the future on-demand Water Taxi service.

“He’s great. He knows his stuff, and he’s got some great ideas on how to improve it [the harbor],” McDaniel said aboard one of the company’s larger vessels as it bobbed gently in the harbor, surrounded by Baltimore’s skyline. “I think there’s plenty more potential out here.”