I assumed that because I quickly mastered the tube system in
London, I could easily handle to vaporetto system in Venice. I was mistaken;
the vaporetto system is infinitely more complicated. At a given tube station,
maybe 2 lines drop off or pick up. You are corralled into an area that
corresponds to your given line, and you know exactly where you are headed.
Vaporetto stations, on the other hand, can have multiple little station
buildings making up the station as a whole. Anywhere from 3 to 8 lines can pick
up/drop off at a given station, and one line can go in either direction. The
electronic signs only list the end destination for the vaporetto line, so if
you don’t know the end destination for your direction you may end up heading
the wrong way. There are signs by each stop that say which stations are in
which direction on which line, but if you happen to see a boat that looks
right, you may not have enough time. Yesterday, I ran into this problem a
couple of times. I knew we were on the correct vaporetto line, but we ended up
going in the wrong direction. After we figured this out and got off at the next
stop, we had to wait 15 minutes for the next vaporetto to come – and take us in
the right direction.
The waiting is probably my least favorite part about the
vaporetto system. In the past, my public transportation experience has involved
very little waiting. The next tube or bus might take 5 minutes to get there,
but once you get on you will travel extremely fast to your destination. With
the vaporetti, you may wait 20 minutes for the next boat, and then it may take
you 30 minutes or more to get to your destination. It all depends on how many
stops are between you and the end, and how bad the traffic or water conditions
are. You are completely at the mercy of the boat, which makes it very difficult
to plan transportation times. This has already made me worry about making it
somewhere on time; in fact, it has made me worry often.
I have spent the most time attempting to plan for or waiting
for the vaporetto to San Servolo (the 20 line). The number 20 vaporetto is very
convenient for whenever we want to get to the main island of Venice; it takes
about 10 minutes for us to get there or back with no stops in between. However,
the times that the San Servolo vaporetto comes can be extremely inconvenient.
It comes every 20 to 30 minutes in the morning, which is lovely for getting to
the island…however, at night it only heads back to San Servolo once every hour.
My roommates and I have had to run to catch the vaporetto at night multiple
times because we don’t want to have to wait an hour for the next boat!
Though it can be inconvenient at times, I love that Venice
is a water-based city. Traveling on the water has been a wonderful change of
pace. The vaporetti force me to slow down, which is completely against the
American get-places-NOW way of thinking/traveling that I am used to. Honestly,
though, I am really enjoying this change of pace. The vaporetti are confusing
and difficult to master, but they are forcing me to slow down a little and
enjoy my visit to Venice. They represent the Venetian people’s somewhat
easygoing nature and disregard for the need-for-speed attitude; I certainly need
to adopt this manner, at least for this trip. The vaporetti will get where they
are going, eventually, and everyone (including me) is along for the ride.
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