Having experienced the stress of gridlock from the eastern districts for years, Cayman Ferries Ltd owners Daniel Petts and Claire Pettinati decided it was time to do something about it and are launching a ferry service between Newlands and Camana Bay.
The service is set to start on 14 March.
One day after announcing the new route on social media, Pettinati said the response has been “amazing”.
Cayman Ferries already runs a service between Kaibo and Camana Bay, but the new route, she said, can make a difference with traffic.
“Our mission is to get cars off the road,” she said. “Newlands is optimally located to divert cars away from the congested routes; a pick-up location any further into town would have passengers sitting in traffic to get to the ferry. Newlands has a large public dock with plenty of parking, and a clear road to get there.”
She said the new service will not change the leisure trips to Kaibo on weekends.
“Currently one boat will start with one commuter trip in the morning to Camana Bay and one trip in the evening to return to Newlands. This will quickly increase to two trips, perhaps even three. As the demand grows, the organisation grows, and so will the number of boats. The vision is to create a network of ferries ultimately creating a more connected island,” Pettinati added.
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She said lots of conversations are already happening behind the scenes about how to “elevate” the transportation system to and from Camana Bay.
“In the private sector, companies may lay on a bus to transport their employees to their place of work; there are also other transport options, such as ZÜN cars, Cycle Cayman and Bird Scooters. We are also encouraging public buses to coordinate with the ferry schedule,” she said.
Why water taxis?
Pettinati told the Compass that, as she has lived in North Side for the past 18 years, she personally has experienced the rush-hour gridlock that happens each work day, and she believes commuting by sea is the way to go.
“On some days, we would leave home at 6am in order to get the kids to school on time. For many years, I took the kids to school on our own boat, which solved the problem for our family. Now we hope to offer a solution for many more families, commuters and travellers,” she said.
Back in 2020, during the lockdown due to COVID, she and Petts purchased the 35-foot Gnautic GKat 3500 catamaran from Captain Marvin’s Water Sports and had it overhauled and rebranded with a new logo and information about their Cayman Ferries app.
“The vision of a more connected island came about during COVID lockdown,” she said, pointing out that she wrote about her plan as part of the Cayman Compass series on ‘My Cayman 2.0’ in 2020.
In that column, Pettinati wrote that the Cayman Islands needs to develop “sustainable forms of transport connected by the simplicity and innovation of an app”.
“Cayman’s population is rapidly growing,” she wrote. “Gridlock has become a national issue. A sustainable transport solution is urgently needed.”
She said Cayman Ferries looked at Grand Cayman and saw many needs.
“Commuters want to avoid stress and time loss. Gridlock traffic between Savannah and George Town at peak hours is a national problem that is not being resolved,” she said, adding that public buses are limited in fleet size and the number of passengers they can carry.
“Their schedule is sometimes unreliable. There is no other ride-share system available in Cayman… Passengers who seek solutions to take their cars off the road cannot find affordable taxi cabs, and the ferry is by contrast, much better value,” she said.
It was this thinking that prompted them to ask what would happen “if we took cars off Cayman’s gridlocked roads with a network of ferries? And what if the whole island was on board with the concept?”
Cayman Ferries, she said, “is an audacious experiment in transportation for the future, where we’re continuing to build incredible relationships with sustainably-minded people and ultimately creating a more connected island”.
It is a not-for-profit organisation with “a social mission that operates independently from the government”, Pettinati added.
As Cayman Ferries moves forward with its planned service, she said, it is seeking private-sector sponsors.
“Whilst it operates without oversight or representation from the government, it aims to solve some of the government transport system issues, and also assists the employment sector by hiring Caymanian boat captains,” she said.
What the schedule looks like
Under phase one, the service will run once a day, in each direction. The ferry will depart Newlands Public Dock at 7:15am and arrive in Camana Bay at 7.40am. On the return trip, the ferry will leave Camana Bay at 5:15pm and arrive at Newlands Public Dock at 5.40pm.
The commuter ferry will run Mondays through Fridays, except public holidays.
“Phase Two routes begin when Phase One routes are at capacity,” Pettinati said. “The standard fare is $12 per one-way trip,” she said, adding that by using a discount code or by buying a season ticket for weekly, monthly or annual trips, the costs of the commutes will be less than purchasing several separate tickets.
An annual season ticket will make a round trip as low as $4.15, she said. Season tickets will launch in May.
For more information, email [email protected] or WhatsApp 325-7777.
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What a great idea
This is brilliant. We could have ferry service from all the eastern districts to land at Spotts dock coupled with a co-ordinated shuttle bus service into George Town and environs on a dedicated bus and a car high occupancy lane. Alternatively from Newlands Public Dock to the dock at the end of North Sound Road – again with a shuttle bus.