Fare Sailing on Sacramento River Taxi

Her husband calls her “Admiral of the Brown Water Navy.” So far, her fleet consists of just one whimsically colored water taxi on the Sacramento River.

But businesswoman Susan Peters is quick to stress the other qualities of the 22-foot, bright yellow boat.

“It is whimsical--but practical,” said Peters, the treasurer at a local commercial real estate firm and the chairwoman of a Sacramento waterfront business association.

The River Otter Taxi Co. went into business a little over a month ago, in a show of cooperation between public and private interests. Start-up funds are being provided by the chambers of commerce and the redevelopment agencies in both Sacramento and West Sacramento, which lie on the opposite banks of the Sacramento River.

After doing research in British Columbia, the East Coast and Southern California, Peters brought the idea of a water taxi to the chamber. The first boat was paid for with $45,000 of Peters’ own money.

Although water taxis might seem more appropriate on the canals of Venice or along the Seine in Paris, the new service has been quite a success. Another taxi is being put into service in the next few weeks.

The Otter Taxi is the first of its kind to be used on a river where pilots must contend with stronger currents or winds, Peters said. Other water taxis generally operate on calm bays or lakes.

Peters found the economical pug-nosed tug while on a trip to Vancouver. The compact vessel is crewed by just one person.

The playful sign and paint scheme are to make the boat “as professional looking as something that would be in Disneyland,” Peters said. Plans are also in the making for a contest to name the company’s mascot, a cartoon otter poking his head out of the water.

On a warm summer morning, Captain Scott Alumbaugh is piloting the vessel on the placid brown waters of the river. After working as a corporate attorney for more than five years in Los Angeles, Alumbaugh quit that job to work as a sailing instructor and boat captain.

It’s not just tourists who are riding the taxi, he said.

“People were out in droves” after they heard about the taxi, Alumbaugh said. Many of those who ride were “people who live in town who haven’t been on the river.”

On weekdays, about 70 people ride the boat, and the number rises to more than 100 on weekends.

Cathy Jordan took the boat with daughter Victoria, 2 1/2, and 3-year-old nephew Dylan Neal. The three waved to passing boats and elicited a whistle out of a train passing on an overhead bridge.

“We’re going up the river to see what we can see,” she said.

To which Dylan retorted: “I see water.”