Amphibious tourist buses put into service in Tokyo

No pictures? I was just wondering how it look like!

Been checking where to buy tickets, but no information yet. The above article left out the most important point .

Just wondering if a bus driver/captain would need a bus license AND a boat license to operate this thing.

"Sky Ducks". So, ducks, then.

Poorly-thought-out name aside, this is a nice idea.

From JNTO http://www.japantravelinfo.com/news/news_item.php?newsid=557 Doesn't look like the old US Army DUKWs.

Maria. I would say poorly planned out. The duck part comes from the fact that the boats are 'duck' boats. There's no getting around the name since that's what they are. Other cities use that in their tour boat names as well. Do a Google image search for Duck boat and you'll see.

I remember when one of these Duck Boats stalled in the water and got hit by a barge in the Delaware River near Philadelphia back in 2010. In the end several people got injured and two Hungarian tourists got knocked off and drowned. However, I don't think these vehicles will ever come into contact with large ships here in Japan.

TheDevilsAssistant: Just wondering if a bus driver/captain would need a bus license AND a boat license to operate this thing.

I can't imagine why not - the driver would certainly need to know the nautical rules of the road.

Wasn't this on JT a year ago? I remember seeing a video on ANN last year with an excited reported squealing her heart out with glee as the bus went into the river.

Seems that quite a few cities around the world have tours like this - I think they even use a converted DUKW 6x6 amphibious truck as a river tours ride on the Thames as well as more modern custom-built vehicles.