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The Cataño Ferry ((スペイン語:Lancha de Cataño)) is a single route ferry service between Cataño and San Juan, Puerto Rico. Its route consists of Cataño (unicode:⇆) Old San Juan docking at the AcuaExpreso Cataño Terminal in Cataño on the route's southwestern point and at the AcuaExpreso San Juan Terminal in Pier 2 of the San Juan Port in Old San Juan on the route's northeastern point.〔 The ferry crosses the San Juan Bay with its services running from mornings to evenings seven days a week as the weather and maritime conditions permit.〔 Although the service is heavily used by tourists, its primary purpose is to serve as a transportation hub for those who live nearby Cataño but work in San Juan in complementation with ''AcuaExpreso''. Despite what the service's name implies, the service is provided by multiple boats, not just one ship. The ferry is an icon in Puerto Rican culture. ==History== "La Lancha de Cataño"'s services were first introduced around the 1950s. It essentially covers only one route: from San Juan's dock to Cataño's ferry terminal. Since most people who used the service initiated the trip in San Juan, it became known as "La Lancha de Cataño", because, it is believed that people use the service mostly to travel from San Juan to Cataño. Soon after it was inaugurated, the service became popular with native Puerto Ricans, Puerto Ricans born outside Puerto Rico and tourists of other nationalities. Since the services are carried out from Old San Juan to Cataño and vice versa, its relative closeness to San Juan hotels made the service approachable to tourists. It is also popular with Puerto Rican and American soldiers who are based at nearby Fort Buchanan. During the 1960s,(service on La lancha cost only five cents one way ). The ticket prices began to rise, however; by the 1980s, it cost 25 cents, and it currently costs 50 cents (one way). Tickets are usually bought at the ferry terminals. Also during the 1980s, a famous salsa music singer filmed a well known television commercial for a beer company at one of the ferries comprising the "Lancha de Cataño" boat fleet. In 1988, the "Lancha de Cataño" service stopped being the only ship service that took people on San Juan-area trips only, when a small company introduced cruise services around Northern San Juan; these services typically lasted one hour and were carried on luxury ships, but their popularity eventually faded and the "Lancha de Cataño" regained its status as the only ship service taking place exclusively around the San Juan area. On January 1, 2000, the Puerto Rican Government passed ownership of all legal passenger ship services to the Puerto Rican Maritime Transport Authority. While this was made mostly to enhance service between Culebra, Fajardo and Vieques, the deal also included the "Lancha de Cataño" service. In 2004, slightly more than 1,100,000 passengers were transported by the "Lancha de Cataño" service. It is estimated that the numbers of passengers transported by the service will remain around that area for the next few years. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Cataño Ferry」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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