DATE: Thursday, April 3, 1997               TAG: 9704030397

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY IDA KAY JORDAN, STAFF WRITER

DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH                        LENGTH:   50 lines

WATER TAXIS TO START CROSSING RIVER FRIDAY

Water taxis between Portsmouth and Norfolk will be on call, starting Friday.

``We're ready to go this weekend,'' Jim Bento, owner of Portsmouth-based Ocean Marine Water Taxis, said Wednesday. ``Barring unforeseen problems, we'll be running.''

Bento anticipates that initially most trips will be across the Elizabeth River between the downtowns of Norfolk and Portsmouth.

``But we'll take people anywhere there's a place to dock, to any private landing,'' he said.

The $1.50 trip between the downtowns of Portsmouth and Norfolk will take about four minutes - ``a little faster if somebody really is in a hurry,'' Bento said.

``I've been running these boats all over the area to time the trips so we will be able to tell people exactly what to expect,'' Bento said. ``I'm counting on people not having to wait more than eight minutes after they call, so they could be across the river in no more than 12 minutes, maybe less.''

The taxis have been booked to transport people for several private parties and weddings this spring.

``I think we'll get a lot of that kind of business,'' Bento said. ``We'll even rent them like limousines.''

He said he has tugboat personnel and shipyard workers who want to call a boat.

He said he is planning to sell ticket books for people who will use the taxi on a regular basis.

Bento owns two fiberglass taxis, built like those used by water taxies in the Baltimore Harbor. Each boat can carry as many as 27 passengers, but Bento said a boat will run for one person.

``I have two more boats under construction right now,'' said Bento, who owns Ocean Marine, a boat repair business headquartered at Tidewater Yacht Agency on Portsmouth's downtown waterfront.

The taxis will be on call from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday through Sunday, or later by request. To call a water taxi, dial 391-3000. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by MOTOYA NAKAMURA/The Virginian-Pilot

Referring to his water taxis crossing the Elizabeth River to link

Portsmouth and Norfolk, Jim Bento, owner of Portsmouth-based Ocean

Marine Water Taxis, says, ``We're ready to go this weekend. Barring

unforeseen problems, we'll be running.'' KEYWORDS: WATER TAXIS

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu