Water taxis in Venice??

[Travelbug 2]

Can anyone tell me if the water transportation in Venice can handle a person with a 4 wheel walker? My wife uses a rollater type walker, (fold up) and we will be visiting Venice next year.

[mikemary945]

The regular water busses, the Vaporetto (I think) should be no problem for the walker. However, the big problem will be all the bridges over the canals that are constructed of steps rather than a ramp.

[cruisead]

It can be a real problem. Venice is the least accessible city in Italy. The water taxis are not at all accessible as you have to walk down rather steep stairs, without railings, to step into the taxi and then you have a couple of steps into the boat. The vaporettos are a better choice as they are ramped into the boat. None of the bridges are ramped, and there are concrete bridges everywhere. You can take the vaporetto that drops you off right in the Piazza San Marco, and there you won't have the bridge problem, but once you get out of the PSM, there are inaccessible bridges to go anywhere else.

[Host Walt]

Although it may be obvoius from the replies, let me point out that there are three forms of public transport in Venice:

 

Gondolas - the legendary narrow boats operated primarily for tourists that are propelled by the arm strength of the gondolier. These vessels are not accessible to any with a mobility handicap.

 

 

Water Taxis - the water equivalent to taxicabs that are really standard motorboats. They are very clumsy to enter and leave but with careful planning it is possible that a person with a 4 wheel walker could be accomodated. But the person must be otherwise in good shape to handle the vagaries of negotiating into a moving vessel.

 

 

Vaparetti - the Venice equivalent to a public bus system. A vaparetto docks securely at each "stop" and is actually more easily negotiated by someone using a 4 wheel walker than a standard public transit bus in any other city.

 

Look at this photo. The loading and unloading area of a vaparetto is tied up by lines at each stop and asistants are at the boarding area to provide help.

 

 

Here's a useful site for Venice including info for cruise passengers but it is rather sparse on accessibility issues. Venice Travel and Tourism

[katisdale]

I will be in Venice for the first time at the end of the Royal Princess Nov. 4 Holy Land Cruise (have a 2 day post cruise stay booked for Nov. 16 and 17). I found this web site http://www.comune.venezia.it/handicap to be helpful. It has a map that shows which bridges are equipped with lifts. I also use a four wheeled walker and will report back to this thread when we return.

[Travelbug 2]

I will be in Venice for the first time at the end of the Royal Princess Nov. 4 Holy Land Cruise (have a 2 day post cruise stay booked for Nov. 16 and 17). I found this web site http://www.comune.venezia.it/handicap to be helpful. It has a map that shows which bridges are equipped with lifts. I also use a four wheeled walker and will report back to this thread when we return.

 

Thank you, I look forward to hearing how you negotiated Venice. Have a great time on the cruise.:)

[rascalrider]

I did Venice on my own for two days last year. I found four areas with accessible areas for wheelchairs without bridges. i took the Vaporetto between the areas. I used a small mobility scooter and did need to be assisted off the vaporetto. At every stop, there was one step up from the vaporreto to the dock. The step height changes with the level of the water. The vaporetto gate operator assisted me. I avoided the female gate operators and waited for the next vaporetto with a strong-looking male!

 

There are actually a few bridges with lifts, but you have to get a special key and operate them yourself and they often don't work. I did not have time to scope them out, but they are labeled on some of the maps that you can download from the site mentioned two post back by katisdale.

 

I found plenty to keep me happy during my time there. I did do a lot of backtracking when I ran into a bridge and was happy to have a scooter instead of a walker. I had my maps, but could not locate the street names, so just sort of meandered around and getting lost and then refinding myself! The scooter keeps me from tiring and eliminates falls. It does keep me out of a lot of shops, cathedrals, museums, etc, but if only a step or two, I found there was usually someone around willing to assist.

 

Do your homework and you will have fun! I stayed on the mainland and took the city bus (with ramp) in each day. (20 minute ride) I chose a hotel close to the bus route (about 4 blocks). I stayed in Hotel Holliday. It worked well for me. The shuttle bus from plaza de Roma to the ship provided the biggest challenge as it had no lift.

 

Ruth

[katisdale]

We are back from Venice and I hope I have information that will assist you. I think our time in Venice went very well. First, the web site for handicapped travelers was accurate and I used the routes they suggested very easily. I had two water taxi rides. One to the island of Murano (arranged by our hotel) and one to the airport (arranged by Princess). I would avoid this form of transportation if at all possible. It is one thing to manage the high steps down into and up from the taxi. Doing that while the taxi bounces up and down the waves at the pier was painful and probably dangerous (I managed with my husband's help). Also, I have problems standing from low seating. The seating in the taxi put my knees well above my hips and the low ceiling in the taxi made walking after standing difficult. The water buses were very easy to use. I highly recommend you use them. In addition, Venice has started to add ramps between the steps on some of their bridges since so many people are using wheeled luggage and baby strollers on the bridges. Using the bridges so equipped is relatively easy although the ramp steepness may be more than you are accustomed to. Our one attempt to use a bridge equipped with a chair lift was unsuccessful as the lift was out of order. We visited both St. Mark's and the Doge's Palace. St. Mark's accessible entrance is on the left side of the church, NOT the left front entrance that I understood from the web site. Once we found this it was easy to enter. The Doge's Palace was wonderful. If possible go early in the morning when the line for tickets will be shorter or even better get tickets from their website (note that if you get in the line you will get in free if handicapped BUT you have to go up about 3 or 4 steep steps to the ticket office). If you already have tickets (and I suppose are in a wheelchair instead of using a walker) you can enter at the exit where you can roll right in. You will be assisted by the personnel to the elevator and take the tour in reverse order doing the fourth floor first. I could not go to the prison or armoury and waited while my husband did those area. I could have spent hours in the map room area. The globes and wall maps from the 1500's are amazing. We also enjoyed greatly our water bus down the grand canal. I was happy to be able to see so much of Venice.

[Magicat]

We just returned from Venice, pushing my two in-laws in travel wheel chairs. As stated the vaporetto is the way to go. But be aware that there are wheelchair accessable ones and ones that are not. There will be a handicap sign on the side of the water bus. Where the ships dock it is a 25 minute walk to Piazzale Roma where the ATC (Vaporetto) can be met. There was a free shuttle available, but we didn't use it. I would suggest a cab if you don't want to walk it. Across the street is a tourist information booth where you can collect the maps and keys for the bridges with lifts. You can also get the maps by emailing them but no keys will be sent.

 

If you have someone in a wheelchair, both the wheelchair and the pusher can ride the ATC for 1 Euro each way. Purchase your tickets at the booth but only validate one at a time at the punch clock. The maps while also show you where all the public washrooms are at street level and can be used by a person in a wheelchair for free.

 

We could not get into St. Marc's Basilica because the wheelchair entrance is under construction, nor could we get into the Doge's palace. I don't think the ticket guy understood what I was talking about. Go figure, my italian was only useful for ordering food and drinks. LOL

 

If you have anyother questions ask and I will try to answer them. Here's the link for Handicap Venice.

 

http://www2.comune.venezia.it/handicap/nuovo/pagina.asp?idmenu=207

[katisdale]

I am so sorry you didn't get into St. Mark's and the Doge's Palace. We were there the 16th and 17th of November (just last week) and had no problem with either. I did think that finding the handicapped entrance to St. Mark's somewhat difficult but it was not blocked by the construction. It was on the left side of the church, not the left side of the front. The handicapped entrance to the Doge's Palace was at the exit and I saw two wheelchairs admitted there but with my rollator I was directed to the regular entrance. Once inside we were shown to the elevators.