Bob Bekoff started his water taxi business in Fort Lauderdale in 1988. Then "it kind of went through a short, 12- or 13-year startup period."
Riding the water taxi around Fort Lauderdale was a lark for tourists who paid $16 a day for the novelty of plying some of the city's "168 miles of wet streets." Bekoff, though, had serious plans. In 2000 he took the financial risk of switching from an on-demand service to scheduled routes. Last November, he took another chance: Increasing the scheduled service by 40%, cutting prices by nearly 70% and hoping to make it up on volume.
To do it, he needed -- and got -- a $2.1-million federal grant. Much of the money went to Bekoff's boat-building company to build eight, 70-seat, air-conditioned, vegetable oil-diesel-electric water buses. Broward County owns the buses and leases them to Bekoff. He charges $5 for a daily ticket. There are weekly, monthly and annual ($99) passes.
Bekoff won't disclose revenues and profits for his private company, but for the first seven months of 2002, he says, ridership was up 110%. The number of locals onboard has climbed to parity with out-of-towners. "It's actually working," Bekoff says of his plan.
Bekoff, a retired forklift dealer and yacht broker, wants to start a short-haul commuter river shuttle downtown once proposed condo towers are further along. And he's branching out. Bekoff in 1999 got the contract to provide water taxi service on the Bricktown canal, a mile-long waterway in an entertainment and dining district in Oklahoma City. He's in talks with a similar development near Houston next year.
Bekoff, 59 "going on a thousand," is enjoying Water Taxi's more mature years. "To tell you the truth," he says, "this is about as much fun as you could have and call it a job."
BOB BEKOFFPRESIDENT / WATER TAXI INC.Fort LauderdalePersonal Boats: "I haven't had a boat for years."Retiring at 39: "I found out when you're 39 and you retire there's nobody else to play with."
FERRY TALE
Talk to ferry fans and they'll tell you about all the places ferries are a hit and all the reasons why Florida's just ripe for similar success. Yet both Florida coasts have seen their share of corporate carcasses wash up from entrepreneurs who failed at the business.
With a bravado unmindful of the ferry graveyard, Mark Antos says he will make a go of a Fort Myers-Key West ferry service.
His ticket: The 149-passenger PurrSeaverance, a $4-million catamaran speeded to 40 knots by Antos' patent-pending hovercraft-like propulsion system and strengthened by Kevlar and carbon fiber.
Fast Cats will charge $69 one-way for airline-style seating with another $35 to enjoy a no-children, leather-seated lounge. Drinks and food, which are expected to be a profit center on the three-hour run to Key West, are additional.
Antos, 45, spent 20 years in the auto parts manufacturing business. The names of his boats -- Therapy, for one -- reflected the stress. So he decided to combine his passion for boating with a career. "I've probably never worked harder in my life and noticed it less," he says. He's looking to build and sell more fast ferry boats. And as he waited in late August for regulatory approval to begin taking paying customers aboard the PurrSeaverance, he took comfort that a few other operators have made a go of Gulf Coast-Key West service. "All I'm doing is bringing a better mousetrap."
MARK ANTOSPRESIDENT AND OWNER / FAST CATS FERRY SERVICEFort MyersBoats: He's owned 30 to 40, from eight-footers to yachts. He built his first boat from a kit when he was a boy. "It was pretty cool. I probably should have used waterproof glue."
WATCHING THE TRAINS
GeoFocus: The 26-employee company makes GPS and GIS software, originally developed by IBM and the University of Florida for agriculture and other uses, that rail operators use to track trains and manage their fleets.
Jolene Molitoris: An Ohio native, she came to the attention of Bill Clinton while she was deputy director of Ohio's transportation department, where she worked on railroad regulation. Clinton appointed her administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration, where she served from 1993 to 2000.
How she got the GeoFocus job: Molitoris was installed by Sumitomo Corp. of America, which purchased GeoFocus last year for $3.75 million. Sumitomo won't disclose revenues.
Customers: South Florida's Tri-Rail, its original customer, and now Los Angeles' Metrolink, Salt Lake City's Trax, Chicago's Metra and Boston's MBTA.
Market: 40 commuter lines, plus another 200 lines people want to form, in addition to trucking, marine and freight rail companies.
Quote: "There's a real push for real-time information in transportation. We're fortunate to be in a growth part of transportation."
Rail fan: "When I started in this business 22 years ago, I had no idea how absorbing it could become. It's really the spine of our country in our history and today."
Interests: Dance, opera and every book and movie that has
a railroad. When she saw The Rookie on in-flight TV, "I said to my husband, 'This is really a great movie. It's got a train in it.' "