Thanks in large part to championship parades, the duck boats are an iconic image in Boston. But another common sight in the city — the traffic — is slowing them down.
Duck boat driver Katherine Lamonic considers herself an expert when it comes to getting people where they need to go.
“If it has wheels, rails, or wings, I’ve done it, and now I’ve got water,” she said. “It’s such a unique experience.”
But lately, no amount of skill can help Lamonic with the gridlock around Boston.
Every work day has been spent navigating around obstacles on the road. In one instance, a car carrier stopped abruptly to unload during a recent trip, blocking one of two lanes on the always-busy Tremont Street.
“Traffic has gotten horrific,” said Darnese Carnes, another duck boat driver. “When I first started, it was pretty nice.”
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The duck boats can use dedicated bus lanes, but those lanes are often blocked by other vehicles.
“The changed lanes, what they’ve done with the lanes, has taken a toll on us,” Carnes said. “The scooters, in and out, dipping up under us, it’s really tough. It makes a tough day.”
The traffic has led to big headaches for Boston Duck Tours as it tries to make the vehicles run on time.
“It’s as bad, if not much worse, than it’s ever been,” said Boston Duck Tours CEO Cindy Brown.
The tours are tightly scheduled to run 80 minutes, with drivers and narrators then getting 40-minute breaks before heading out on another ride.
Tours now regularly can last two hours. In one recent case, a crash along the route stretched tours close to three hours.
“We’ve had to change our schedule to add breaks in, because obviously, the drivers and narrators need breaks in between,” Brown said. “So we’re pushing our schedule to be longer in between tours, which, of course, is less tours going out, less revenue, but, you know, there’s nothing else we can do.”
The company has also eliminated a pass through Charlestown in a bid to save time.
The boat’s tour through the Charles River is really the only smooth sailing — something customers notice, too.
“They ask us to go back to the water,” Lamonic said. “Cut through the harbor.”
Brown says the company continues to work with the city on traffic enforcement, because when time matters — as it does here — how you start and how you finish matters.