Miami Beach ready to negotiate water taxi service contract

Written by Janetssy Lugo on June 18, 2025

Miami Beach is one step closer to welcoming water taxi service as it prepares to negotiate a contract with an operator.

Last October, elected officials unanimously directed the administration to request proposals to set up a water taxi service. The request for proposals was “for the establishment of a water taxi service between one or more locations in Miami Beach and one or more locations in Miami,” says a resolution.

“I am super excited about this,” said Miami Beach Mayor Steven Meiner. “This is a little different than some prior pilots that we’ve done…. I’ve been working on this for a couple of years. We have full commission support…. It seeks to implement not just an east-west cross-bay corridor, but also north-south water taxi. Basically, a commuting option as you go up and down Miami Beach. So we did have a procurement we issued, and our commission approved the request for proposals to be issued by our city to establish a water taxi service.”

At the June 25 commission meeting, he said, “the city administration will be submitting to us its recommendation to negotiate and execute a contract with the top-ranked vendor.”

When the city has previously had such a service, said Mayor Meiner, like during Art Basel, it’s been highly successful.

“In my opinion,” he said, “some of the problems with the prior pilots that we’ve done in years past was that they were very expensive. It was almost like a luxury trip. People are not going to spend $20 a leg, but if it’s free or de minimis … and obviously cost-effective, reliable, people are going to use it. It’s going to be fun. It’s a water taxi. It’s something unique. It’s interesting, but also to get you from one place to the next quickly, reliably and efficiently.”

This could be a huge transportation option for the city, said the mayor, “because obviously, the limitations in public transit that we have, and obviously we have a trolley system, and that’s what I envision this to be, a trolley system on water, and I’m super excited about it.”

Steps to establish the water taxi service are underway.

“We’ll get the top-ranked vendor,” he said, “and ultimately, we have to build it out with infrastructure to support the boats coming in and out. We’ve gotten some state funding, but we’re still looking – and this was something that I had pushed for a couple of years ago – we’re still looking for additional funding from the federal government, ultimately, the county as well. It’s a win-win for everyone.”