I actually got to drive the boat in the river once! My cousin was in town with her toddler and we decided to take him. They asked if anybody wanted to drive. I did but felt weird raising my hand since I was like 25 and felt like it was meant for the kids. Nobody wanted to, so I took my chance since I love learning to drive different vehicles.

That’s awesome!

Quack quack quack 🦆

It was, but damn were they slow! Between the water resistance and under-powered engines, you had to make course corrections more in-advance than I had anticipated and really mash the throttle. I expected something so relatively-small (for a watercraft) to be a little more nimble than it was.

Back in the day, anybody using those vehicles for military purposes would be...sitting ducks

I worked there as a narrator and captain! It was very unfortunate, almost all other duck boat companies heavily modified and extended the hulls, where Pittsburgh was independent and very strict on safety. I miss driving those boats so much and had no worries about the safety while on them, but those few accidents hurt the "duck tour" name so much.

[deleted]

We went on one somewhen around 2016/2017 and it was fantastic! We had an incredible tour guide who, if I remember correctly, was getting her degree in a subset of History that made her super knowledgeable about Pittsburgh. By far one of the best tours we've done. I'd heard they shut down, but I thought it was because of funding; not the accident.

The company I used to work for was based out of PNC Park and I always loved getting quacked at when they went by…well they were really quacking at Roberto Clemente 😂

[deleted]

Best summer job I ever had. Quack quack quack

I mean, I meant it as more of a snowballing effect from one accident, but yes, that'd be specifically why Pittsburgh Ducky Tours are gone. As opposed to what I thought actually happened, which was just that they couldn't afford to operate anymore.

Any time they went by my bus stop I was tempted to take one eventually. Seemed like great advertisement to drive through downtown.

I bet you live a very happy life and have plenty of friends.... Not

Worked there for around 8 years and loved it. Our captains were super safety focused

Based on the video, it seems like even a very safety minded captain could have fallen afoul of the inherent design flaws in the boats to cope with rough waters. The redesigned air intakes, the lack of redundant buoyancy, the rigid canopies preventing passengers from escaping should the boat become submerged, etc etc

I personally would love to see amphibious tours return to Pittsburgh, but with a purpose built vehicle as opposed to a modified surplus vehicle. Alas, that would lack that charm of the original ducks.

I rode one back in 2000 or maybe 2001, it was fun! My lasting memory is of everyone on the boat quacking at the inmates in the Allegheny County Jail.

[deleted]

My sister came to town and we took her once when my son was young, like 6 or 7. One of my fondest memories, how proud he was to pilot the boat. But that wasn't the best part for me :

We had planned it for a few months, so I knew it was coming. My kid was taking swim lessons and doing really well. He didn't know what a Ducky Tour was, so I just told him it was a bus with the top cut off that took us around town. But that I was nervous, because they drove so close the water and more than once the tour bus had actually fallen into the water (keep in mind this was before the incident in Missouri). I told him "good thing your such a good swimmer!". This was all reinforced by the safety briefing about life jacket location when we boarded (See son, I told you!). He even asked my sister and her BF if they were good swimmers like he was, just in case.

Cut to us entering the water and I'm playing it up that I was really nervous at how close they're getting to the water... then we were in the water. You should have seen his face. He was ready to jump over the side and swim for it, lol.

He got over it quick, and got to drive the boat back and forth in the open river. Not without a comment for me about "try not to hit land". The captain was right there with him, kind of steering him away from other boats if needed. But yeah, lifelong memory. And somehow he hasn't needed therapy about the whole thing.

The design of the boats are for sure always going to pose a threat. I just know we had a great staff of mechanics that performs maintenance and checks daily, we paid attention to weather every single trip, we occasionally skipped the water portion if it was bad conditions (guests would be upset, but we always focused on favorable conditions). We also stayed way closer to shore than the tour in the video in case there was some emergency.

All of that said- again the buoyancy reserve not existing for sure sucks. They really should have created some canopy that can bust off quickly.

I think most captains were more afraid of land to be honest. Pedestrians would walk right under the bow at stops, car would swerve out of side streets in front of us, bikers would come out of the blue.

That is incredibly devious. Hahaha.

I legit miss hearing random quacking, bow that I'm thinking about it.

I got to drive the ducky boat in 2016! I even got a “I drove the ducky boat” sticker 😂

[deleted]

We did the tour several times, so fun!

So what happened to the boats? Were they original 1940s DUKWs?

They were auctioned off. They were all original hulls, but new engines, transmissions, and more for safety. I believe all were used in WWII for training in the US, as the majority of DUKW's were left overseas or scuttled after battle so they didn't have to transport them home.

I had just moved back to my hometown of Pittsburgh after nearly 40 years away. My friends came to visit me, they were both semi-disabled but able to walk around fairly well. So I take them on the Ducky tour. The woman gets seasick and almost faints, while her husband, an avid fisherman, is allowed to take the wheel for a moment. He almost steers the tourboat into some obstacle but luckily the driver regained control. That was the end of sightseeing on the water for us.

I loved the tours! Our school district did field trips there every year and when I had relatives in from out of town we would do the tours. Wah, Quack, Quack. 🦆

I got to take one of the tours maybe 5 years ago. No idea at the time how near the end would be.

Ride the Ducks in Seattle filed a liquidating bankruptcy in 2020 for the same reason (insurance). The ones in Boston are still going.

I don't want the tours back, I do want someone to buy the boats and set up a water taxi service around Pittsburgh though.

Wait, they closed down here? First I’ve heard of it! Was really fun to go on when I got the chance once, the guide was really knowledgeable

Worker's comp and general liability isn't exactly a thing in the armed forces. They were never really fit for operations like the Ducky tours, and on top of that they were old as fuck. It's the same reason people don't really like driving cars that never came with seat belts. I personally had a great time on numerous Ducky tours in various cities, like most people, I survived (unless my dog is posting this).

I miss them. I always wrote them off as some out of town touristy thing that wasn't worth my time, but my sister visited once and wanted to go so I obliged. I ended up learning a lot about the city and had an absolute blast. The guides/captains were absolute rockstars and I (gladly) couldn't have been more wrong about my assumptions about the tours.

I liked the duck boats, sad they are gone.

I am on the rivers quite a bit. And where the duck boats were far from the yar, The where the freaking Queen Mary compared to those tiki boats.

I'm just waiting for one of those to go down.

Really who thought it was a good idea to put high bar chairs on a raft that looks like your shady Uncle built in the backyard then invite a bunch of people to get drunk and take a tour of the river. Every time I pass when I pray that I'm not the one that knocks them into the water.

A bunch of people got ran over by them in other cities. Operators could not see below the front if people were crossing the road.

I went once. Hearing about the tragedy scared me. Kinda wana watch the documentary but kinda don’t wanna cry again today

Was in Boston last week and saw the duck boat in Downtown so maybe there’s hope we’ll see them again. I figured the whole brand would be dead after the incidents but that’s not the case.

I mean, yes, but also, do you see how the modern purpose built designs lack the charm of the original WWII ducks? That’s definitely part of the draw for many people, getting to ride on those old WWII surplus vehicles that our forefathers liberated Europe and the Pacific in.

It’s sad, but very informative.

Bud I drove it and was probably 35. Bucket list item there! Now look, never again.

We were captains of the high seas

I used to LOVE ducky tours as a kid. The absolute best field trip activity

Went on it as a kid and then again during college move in! Loved it!

I miss the Ducky tours. I got to drive the vehicle once, it’s certainly a highlight of my life.

Me too, narrator and first-mate anyway! Even at that I needed to take safety training and drills very seriously. Hope to see a revival if the gang is still into it -- there was nothing like it for cheap & easy laughs on the waterways

I took my then-girlfriend on a Ducky Tour and proposed after the ride. We bought the silly quack whistles and everything. So sad it’s gone.

The difference with the tiki boats is it would be individual passengers falling overboard, rather than the boat sinking and taking everyone aboard down with it. As shoddily built as the tiki rafts might be, the form factor and materials would make them very hard to capsize.

Why would we forget something that was around 3 years ago?

Really interesting video and this made me remember going on that same ride when I was a kid and my family would take us to silver dollar city. I have not thought about that in years. Thanks OP!

I was so sorry they closed. Seemed like such a great way to introduce people to the city. I’m an avid boater and always wished I could get a job on the tour boats.

I worked there as a narrator for a summer and I absolutely loved it. Such a shame they got screwed over by association. They were always really good about the maintenance of the vehicles and our Coast Guard training

I did one of these tours and learned so much. I have lived in Pittsburgh my entire life. It was great! The best tour of PGH I have ever had!

Darn, this sounded like a fun post and now I'm just really sad.

Best friend of mine gave me a roll of their round yellow stickers this year and it's been a family heirloom since