Venice scraps locals-only vaporetto

Another episode in the deeply ambivalent relationship of Venetians with tourists: Venice to scrap locals-only cheap watertaxis.

I witnessed the service over the summer, and - while a VERY rare direct perk for Venetian residents - the locals-only service did seem a bit underutilized. Not to mention that those vaporetti seemed to be nearly as frequent as the regular waterbus lines. I have to admit that it just didn't seem fiscally sustainable for such a small resident population.

At the time, though, I thought maybe one or two locals-only boats an hour might be more practical. But instead it looks now like they've gone ahead and thrown out the baby with the bathwater... Oh well!

1 comment:

Cat Bauer in Venice Blog said...

Heh, heh. I wonder if the hospital keeps a record of what proportion of the population has fallen on the bridges. I broke my wrist on my way to Fed Ex delivering my last novel. Just normal life over here in the ol' Magic Kingdom. I've gone over the Fourth Bridge, and it's tricky! Promises to be even more fun without a handrail!

Michele, I am now the Venice Insider for ninemsn, Australia's number one website. I listed your blog under "Awesome Links."
http://travel.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=645460

Ciao,
Cat