Proposed watertown ferry

[Charlie_mta]

I assume the tourist boat charges $30 because that is what it takes to make money. So the ferry will lose money and collapse. (Or are they expecting a subsidy because they call it a ferry?)

And going to Watertown also means you have to come back somehow. It is generally preferable for a "pleasure cruise" to end up where you started.

Good points. I don't think the new Watertown ferry will be financially viable. If it charges fares high enough to make a profit, then those high fares will repel commuters.

 

[HenryAlan]

Apparently, this is maybe happening and is launching next month? This story by NBC10 is typical of modern journalism, in that it's basically an uncritical press release for the ferry operator, with a few jokes about Boston accents thrown in, but it does show an actual boat, and discusses things like wakes and navigable depth. I remain convinced that this will not succeed.

 

[stevebikes]

It's in the water and has a captain:

Wada Hoppah Charles River Ferry Boat Has Hit the Water — See a Video and Photos

An idea formed three years ago took to the waters of the Charles River on July 11, 2026 when the Wada Hoppah ferry launched at the Newton Yacht Club. Watertown’s Drew Rollert hatched the idea after a thwarted attempt to attend a Boston Red Sox game in July 2023 by roadway, and he saw an […]

www.watertownmanews.com

 

[F-Line to Dudley]

It's in the water and has a captain:

Wada Hoppah Charles River Ferry Boat Has Hit the Water — See a Video and Photos

An idea formed three years ago took to the waters of the Charles River on July 11, 2026 when the Wada Hoppah ferry launched at the Newton Yacht Club. Watertown’s Drew Rollert hatched the idea after a thwarted attempt to attend a Boston Red Sox game in July 2023 by roadway, and he saw an […]

www.watertownmanews.com

The very last sentence in the article. . .

Wada Hoppah still needs approval from the Mass. Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), which oversees the Charles River.

. . .seems like it should have been one of the very first sentences in the article.

 

[Charlie_mta]

The very last sentence in the article. . .

. . .seems like it should have been one of the very first sentences in the article.

That will be a very big "oops" if they flunk out on the approval.

 

[F-Line to Dudley]

https://www.universalhub.com/comment/1031519#comment-1031519

Scam alert? Ari Osevit in the UHub comments with some personal insight into Wada Hoppah's founder's past business...uhh...foibles. He sounds like a real upstanding legitimate businessman.

 

[DBM]

https://www.universalhub.com/comment/1031519#comment-1031519

Scam alert? Ari Osevit in the UHub comments with some personal insight into Wada Hoppah's founder's past business...uhh...foibles. He sounds like a real upstanding legitimate businessman.

I was just about to comment, this is one of those precious, fleeting moments where Archboston and UHub have effortlessly synchronized ... to utterly roast this guy for the delusional charlatan he is.

 

[ritchiew]

https://www.universalhub.com/comment/1031519#comment-1031519

Scam alert? Ari Osevit in the UHub comments with some personal insight into Wada Hoppah's founder's past business...uhh...foibles. He sounds like a real upstanding legitimate businessman.

lol.

Somewhere on this site I gave the Wada Hoppah guy the benefit of the doubt and said his plan was probably just dumb, not a fraud. I'm all set to start taking that back....

 

[fatnoah]

Story with pictures of the boat: https://www.watertownmanews.com/202...rry-boat-has-launched-see-a-video-and-photos/
6 passengers for now, hopefully climbing to 12.

It looks a bit more modest than the image on the company's website: https://img1.wsimg.com/isteam/ip/92...H Heavy with Gussie and passenger-1ef271e.png

 

[Stlin]

Well, of all things, I managed to come across the YouTube channel of the folks who built the boat. If you go through their other videos, there's several other concepts of various sizes they worked on, ranging from the most ambitious 58ft one (the render they posted is clearly this fed into AI) to this latest as-built. As is... It's pretty much just a somewhat oversized crew launch.