Daniel Islanders may soon have a new route on and off the island. Charleston Water Taxi is testing a new route this week, running from Waterfront Park Downtown to Daniel Island.
The passenger ferry will only run this week. The operators are using the Volvo Car Open as a test to see how many people will use it, in the hopes a regular route will help commuters and businesses.
For locals like Anita Kosyck, it's mostly hassle-free. She took the ferry solo on Monday and on Tuesday, she brought along friends for a quick day trip of sight-seeing on and off the Cooper River.
"Traffic and parking is not my favorite thing and this kind of solves both of those issues," Kosyck said. "We're going to go downtown for lunch and then we're going to go for a carriage ride and then we're coming back just in time for the tennis open, so it's the whole day and this just works perfectly for us."
While ferries carrying tourists dart across the Charleston Harbor around the clock, Captain Chip Deaton said the Daniel Island Ferry mostly caters to locals.
"We've thought about this for a lot of years and it's 45 minutes either way you by car with traffic or a 20-minute boat ride," said Deaton. "Especially everybody living and working close to the water, it's just a small commute to the dock, you have all the medical people downtown, that's huge and we can pull right into the marina."
Deaton, co-owner and operator of Charleston Water Taxi, said demand is fueling plans and setting them up for a bigger project later this year. He said they're planning on placing an order for a new ferry come May.
"It will be a larger boat, climate controlled with Wi-Fi," Deaton said. "(It will be) very comfortable for the commuters, back and forth."
While it may not be the solution for traffic and long commutes, it could be a solution for some people as early as October.
"Absolutely, I've told everybody about it and they're all looking forward to it. I'm looking for to when it's more of a regular thing," Kosyck said.
The company lists two daily routes forWednesday, Thursday and Friday of this week.
The first ferry will depart from the docks at Waterfront Park near the Pineapple Fountain at 11 a.m. and head for Daniel Island with a return trip from Daniel Island leaving at 5:30 p.m.
A ferry will depart from Daniel Island heading to downtown at 11:30 a.m. with a return trip at 5 p.m.
Tickets are $15 round trip for adults. Children ages 4-11 are $8 and children ages 3 and under are $5.
To book a trip or check availability, click here.