Via KH City Press Release / Staff
Wiki Commons image on the left shows a New York City Water Taxi. On the right is one of the Gushan-Cijin Ferries.
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said Monday the city will carry out a more comprehensive evaluation before deciding whether to introduce water buses on the Love River (愛河), telling the city council that any new tourism transport system must make sense in terms of demand and long-term operations. Some have called for a system of “water taxi” boats with flexible start and stop locations.
An amphibious so-called “duck boat” was once often seen on the Love River, but the condition of the boat and or service hours are currently unclear.
Chen cautioned against viewing the Love River in isolation, saying Kaohsiung’s tourism strategy should “not be limited to one waterway” and instead look toward the city’s much larger waterfront assets. Some of the bridges that cross the Love River would also likely need to be examined and certified for safety, and perhaps modified, if small boats were allowed to use the river freely.
Chen pointed to the Port of Kaohsiung’s broad waters and spacious shoreline — including the Kaohsiung Port Cruise Terminal (高雄港旅運中心) and Pier-2 (棧貳庫) area — as locations with significant untapped potential. Linking these areas with diverse water-based transport options could give Kaohsiung a distinctive identity among global port cities, he said, and strengthen the city’s appeal to domestic and international visitors.
The most popular tourist “sea-bus” ferry used now is the Gushan-KW2-Cijin route, which starts from Gushan Ferry Terminal, passes through KW2 (the area of Pier 2 with century-old warehouses), and arrives at Cijin Ferry Terminal. It then follows the same route back to Gushan Ferry Terminal. The schedule for that is below:
The Gushan-Cijin Ferry is the most common way to cross between Hamaxing, one of the earliest developed areas in Kaohsiung City, and Cijin Island. It serves as both a public transportation ferry for Cijin Island residents and a tourist transportation ferry, allowing visitors to savor seafood delicacies and explore historical sites and old streets.
