Chicago Water Taxis to remain docked until at least next spring

Wendella Sightseeing Co. announced Wednesday it’s suspending its Chicago Water Taxi operations until at least the spring of 2021 after determining coronavirus protocols aren’t feasible for its smaller vessels that operate as water taxis.

The company’s five water taxis haven’t been in operation since March.

Workers are able to disinfect Wendella’s three large tour boats that cruise the river and lakefront because there’s a predetermined amount of downtime where no customers are aboard between the 90-minute tours, Andrew Sargis, chief of operations for Chicago Water Taxi, told the Sun-Times.

“But there is no downtime on the water taxis,” Sargis said. “And to implement these measures, we would have had to rework the way we operate.”

Social distancing would be tough, too, if passengers who ride the open-air portions of water taxis all go inside if it rains, Sargis said.

“It was a tough decision, a lot of commuters rely on us to get to work,” Sargis said.

Another factor in the decision was the rising number of COVID-19 infections in Illinois and other Midwest states.

“We were hoping the trajectory of the coronavirus would go in the right direction, but the last few weeks have kind of shaken our confidence,” Sargis said.