Chicago Water Taxi — Local services in Chicago

We decided to load up the family and play tourist in our own backyard. We grabbed the Water Taxi at the Michigan Avenue Bridge with our intentions to go to Chinatown for lunch.

My first complaint was that there was no kiosk to buy tickets outside the water taxi launch at Michigan Avenue. We had to go all the way back up, around the Wrigley Building and then down the stairs to the Wendella Boats for a kiosk to buy tickets and then all the way back up the stairs, around the Wrigley Building and down to get on the water taxi. During this three stooges adventure, we happened to miss two boats...so that was a little annoying but now we know if we ever want to play tourist again.

You can buy a 10 ride pass for $16 which works out to be $1.60 per ride which seems like a great deal at first, until you get to the Train Station boat launch and they tell you that you have to get off and wait for another water taxi to go to Chinatown. Oh and by the way there is no free transfer...it will cost you another $1.60 to get on that taxi to Chinatown. I am just glad we did not buy the $5 one way tickets because this review would have been 1 star! Also, when you buy the 10 ride pass it can be used for everyone in your group, so you do not need to buy individual ones for everyone traveling with you. That is a nice perk.

Besides the double charge to get to Chinatown my review is for the amazing way to travel the Chicago River. How much fun to go from Michigan Avenue to Chinatown on the water. The river travel just made Chinatown seem so close and with no traffic. It is great to ride on the water and we enjoyed the spectacular views of the Sears Tower, Trump Tower and the Opera House to just name a few. The water taxi reminded me a little of our trips to Venice and getting around the city. I just wish that the water taxi went even farther into the city then just the 4 main stops. What a unique way to travel. I am glad that we got to try it and I look forward to doing it again...well we are going to have to do it again because I still have 4 single rides left! On a positive note it gives us a reason to have lunch in...

Extremely dissatisfied with the water taxi service. After having lunch on a beautiful day I decided it would be a good idea to take the water taxi and enjoy the view. Boy was I wrong. We walked over to the stop and went down a flight of stairs to purchase our tickets. This stop was underground, terrible circulation, extremely hot and it smelled like mold, construction and pulverized cement. I could barely inhale. To make matters worse we were a party of 4 and waited over 45 minutes to get a seat on the boat. Every ship that came by was at capacity. Luckily we were in front of the line. I feel extremely bad for the 50 people behind me and can’t imagine how long they had to wait. The staff has poor communication and they don’t really know what’s going on. All they have is a useless chart which is inaccurate. Chicago water taxi...if you don’t have room for passengers...then please stop selling tickets or at least give passengers an accurate estimated time. I guarantee if I was told it was going to be a 45 minute wait for a 5 minute ride I would of seeked an alternate form of transportation. We bought an all day pass for $10 but after that experience...we refused to...

NOT ACCESSIBLE we decided to try the water taxi to Chinatown. We have a pediatric manual wheelchair. While the water taxi itself was a gorgeous ride, when we arrived and bought tickets there were no signs anywhere saying this is not an accessible attraction. The guy who sold us tickets looked right at our son in a wheelchair and didn’t tell us either. We ended up carrying our son (50+ lbs) on to the taxi and Carryinng the wheelchair which is heavy and awkward bc there were steps everywhere and no alternative for disabled people. Had we known this ahead of time we would have never chosen to do the taxi which is fine we don’t need to. But had no idea we would go through what we went through to get on and off. Only 1 staff person (on our way back waiting from Chinatown to Michigan ave) suggested we come to the front so we can get on easier. THANK YOU TO HIM). The staff at Michigan ave were deplorable. Not a single person helped or offered suggestion to...