QUOTE
Plans for hovercraft commute in doubt
December 14, 2006
BY STEVE WALSH Post-Tribune
Rough waters are ahead for a proposed Gary-to-Chicago hovercraft route, even the organizer concedes.
John Ramirez will appear Monday at a meeting for the Gary Redevelopment Corp. to air his proposal to bring a hovercraft line to Gary. But he admits several major hurdles remain in his way.
For one, Ramirez does not have the millions of dollars needed to own and run a hovercraft line. He runs a self-described mom-and-pop computer training business, R1 Tech, with his wife. He got the idea to run hovercraft to Navy Pier while he was stuck in traffic on the way to a client's office about a year ago. He's trying to line up backers, including local banks, but so far no investors have signed onto his dream.
"I'm not the multimillion-dollar person. I'm the one who puts this together," he said.
While Gary officials have been willing to listen to his plans, so far no one along the Chicago lakefront has bought into the idea.
He received a letter in November from Navy Pier officials, who said they have no spots open.
"The letter said they may have a bid process sometime next year," Ramirez said.
He has had preliminary discussions with the operators of marinas along the city skyline, but so far they have been unresponsive. His fallback idea is to land the craft on an unused portion of beach in the city, he said.
"Unlike a boat, you can go right up on land," Ramirez said.
While hovercraft can run in weather unsuitable for boats, a quick check of winter wave heights suggests they would not be able to run in the dead of winter, when wave heights on Lake Michigan reach 14 feet, he said.
"If we bought a larger craft, I think we could run maybe 11 months out of the year, with a smaller one, maybe 10 months out of the year," he said.
While putting together his business plan, Ramirez visited Atlas Hovercraft in Green Cove Springs, Fla. He has made references to their hovercraft in his early discussions.
Atlas officials are quick to point out, however, that they are not affiliated with the Gary effort.
"I can tell you at this point in time we have no order on our books. I would say any announcement is premature," Atlas CEO Kurt Peterson said.
Atlas' first craft is not scheduled for sea trials until February. The company is working with San Francisco and other communities and has two to three years' worth of orders already on its books. The estimates published in the Post-Tribune of a potential June 2007 start-up date would be impossible, Peterson said.
"I don't mean to throw a wet blanket on things, but it would take six months to a year just to get the diesel engine to put into a craft," he said.
Atlas builds boats to suit clients, but Peterson said he would not recommend building a 42-passenger boat as proposed. To keep the per-passenger cost low, Atlas is about to debut a 150-passenger boat. He wouldn't recommend anything smaller than a 57-passenger bus.
The $1.5 million projected cost is also far lower than Peterson would expect. The 150-passenger craft is expected to cost roughly $10 million, he said.
"And you would need a whole fleet to do what they are proposing," Peterson said.
Peterson said he is an outspoken advocate of hovercraft. He said even the weather problems are not insurmountable. If the craft are allowed to ride close to the shore, they could be more reliable than commuter buses, he said.
But realistically it would take years of planning and strong political support to create a hovercraft route to Chicago.
"You're talking about a system that takes millions to purchase and millions to operate," he said.
Despite making about 30 phone calls on Wednesday to track down records of previous auctions, the Post-Tribune was unable to learn what happened to the hovercraft formerly owned by Gary firefighters. The hovercraft was last seen at a junk yard on the east side of Colfax Street at 29th Avenue.
Contact Steve Walsh at 648-3120 or swalsh@post-trib.com.
December 14, 2006
BY STEVE WALSH Post-Tribune
Rough waters are ahead for a proposed Gary-to-Chicago hovercraft route, even the organizer concedes.
John Ramirez will appear Monday at a meeting for the Gary Redevelopment Corp. to air his proposal to bring a hovercraft line to Gary. But he admits several major hurdles remain in his way.
For one, Ramirez does not have the millions of dollars needed to own and run a hovercraft line. He runs a self-described mom-and-pop computer training business, R1 Tech, with his wife. He got the idea to run hovercraft to Navy Pier while he was stuck in traffic on the way to a client's office about a year ago. He's trying to line up backers, including local banks, but so far no investors have signed onto his dream.
"I'm not the multimillion-dollar person. I'm the one who puts this together," he said.
While Gary officials have been willing to listen to his plans, so far no one along the Chicago lakefront has bought into the idea.
He received a letter in November from Navy Pier officials, who said they have no spots open.
"The letter said they may have a bid process sometime next year," Ramirez said.
He has had preliminary discussions with the operators of marinas along the city skyline, but so far they have been unresponsive. His fallback idea is to land the craft on an unused portion of beach in the city, he said.
"Unlike a boat, you can go right up on land," Ramirez said.
While hovercraft can run in weather unsuitable for boats, a quick check of winter wave heights suggests they would not be able to run in the dead of winter, when wave heights on Lake Michigan reach 14 feet, he said.
"If we bought a larger craft, I think we could run maybe 11 months out of the year, with a smaller one, maybe 10 months out of the year," he said.
While putting together his business plan, Ramirez visited Atlas Hovercraft in Green Cove Springs, Fla. He has made references to their hovercraft in his early discussions.
Atlas officials are quick to point out, however, that they are not affiliated with the Gary effort.
"I can tell you at this point in time we have no order on our books. I would say any announcement is premature," Atlas CEO Kurt Peterson said.
Atlas' first craft is not scheduled for sea trials until February. The company is working with San Francisco and other communities and has two to three years' worth of orders already on its books. The estimates published in the Post-Tribune of a potential June 2007 start-up date would be impossible, Peterson said.
"I don't mean to throw a wet blanket on things, but it would take six months to a year just to get the diesel engine to put into a craft," he said.
Atlas builds boats to suit clients, but Peterson said he would not recommend building a 42-passenger boat as proposed. To keep the per-passenger cost low, Atlas is about to debut a 150-passenger boat. He wouldn't recommend anything smaller than a 57-passenger bus.
The $1.5 million projected cost is also far lower than Peterson would expect. The 150-passenger craft is expected to cost roughly $10 million, he said.
"And you would need a whole fleet to do what they are proposing," Peterson said.
Peterson said he is an outspoken advocate of hovercraft. He said even the weather problems are not insurmountable. If the craft are allowed to ride close to the shore, they could be more reliable than commuter buses, he said.
But realistically it would take years of planning and strong political support to create a hovercraft route to Chicago.
"You're talking about a system that takes millions to purchase and millions to operate," he said.
Despite making about 30 phone calls on Wednesday to track down records of previous auctions, the Post-Tribune was unable to learn what happened to the hovercraft formerly owned by Gary firefighters. The hovercraft was last seen at a junk yard on the east side of Colfax Street at 29th Avenue.
Contact Steve Walsh at 648-3120 or swalsh@post-trib.com.