Wiktionary
n. (context nautical English) A small boat that can transport small groups of passengers for a fee
Wikipedia
A water taxi or a water bus, also known as a sightseeing boat, is a watercraft used to provide public or private transport, usually, but not always, in an urban environment. Service may be scheduled with multiple stops, operating in a similar manner to a bus, or on demand to many locations, operating in a similar manner to a taxi. A boat service shuttling between two points would normally be described as a ferry rather than a water bus or taxi.
The term water taxi is usually confined to a boat operating on demand, and water bus to a boat operating on a schedule. In North American usage, the terms are roughly synonymous.
The earliest water taxi service was recorded as operating around the area that became Manchester, United Kingdom.
Usage examples of "water taxi".
Buchanan strained to see through the darkness beneath the water taxi's roof, then stepped onto the gangplank that extended from the canal to the bow.
The water taxi, an old speedboat without trimmings, slid through the anchored yachts and rounded the breakwater.
She'd intended to have the water taxi wait for her, but it seemed unlikely that the boatman would ever come within impeller range of the Infantans again.
There are only two ways for Miss Rolfe to reach the San Rocco on the night of the concert, on foot or by water taxi.
The water taxi, an old launch painted up and glassed in for three-quarters of its length, slid through the anchored yachts and around the wide pile of stone which was the end of the breakwater.
Ditching the water taxi at an open slip, we proceeded on foot into the crowded town.
They went down to the Sumida river, caught a water taxi to the Asakusa district, where the Senso-ji temple stood.