Commuting to work on the Charles River? Here comes the Wada Hoppah

Looking for a way to beat the Boston traffic? A Newton company is introducing a new way to get into the city without stress: an electric ferry service on the Charles River called the Wada Hoppah. 

The founder, Drew Rollert, wanted to help people get to work and events in an eco-friendly way that avoided hours in the car or delays on the MBTA. The boat will dock at nine different locations around the city, from Watertown Square to Cambridgeport, the Hatch Shell and TD Garden. Rollert said they are hoping to expand stops to Arsenal Yard, Fenway and Harvard Square in the future.

Rollert says the first thing that people will notice is how quiet the boat is on the water. 

"The goal was to really give Boston and MetroWest a new way of getting into and out of their cities without emissions, without noise and in a really comfortable, stress-free way," Rollert said. "There are 2 all-electric motors, and this is the equivalent of a 35-horsepower diesel."  

The boat is run on batteries and has no wake, fumes or smell, so it won't disturb kayakers and canoers enjoying the river. Rollert also has a lookout device on top of the boat that helps the captain while driving. 

"So what it does is it scans 360 degrees around the boat in real time and it picks up every single moving object around the entire boat whether it's a kayaker, a rower, a sailboat, a duck, a log," Rollert said.

The trips will cost between $10 and $20, and Rollert plans to run it year-round, barring any ice in the river. The Wada Hoppah is expected to launch in the next few weeks. 

Rollert said that it was also important to him for the service to be accessible to wheelchair users.  

"I have a good friend of mine that's in a wheelchair, David Weiselmann, who runs Where to Wheel. Just because he's a friend of mine, I wanted him to be able to get on and enjoy it with us," Rollert said. 

For more information about the Wada Hoppah, head to their website.