PITTSBURGH — The first time Massachusetts native Chris D’Addario visited Pittsburgh in 1996 searching for a place to launch a quirky sightseeing business offering land/water tours from amphibious vehicles, he was shocked.
Pittsburgh was nothing like the smoky, dreary city he had expected. “I couldn’t believe how nice it was,” he said. “I was thrilled. I was amazed. I said, ‘This place rocks!’ ”
D’Addario and his high school chum Michael Cohen also had been considering sites in Philadelphia, Baltimore and Savannah, Ga., for their start-up but it was former Pittsburgh Mayor Tom Murphy who offered the most support.
“They didn’t chase us away,” D’Addario said. “It was not like that in other cities.”
In the beginning, “Just Ducky” wouldn’t be the words used to describe how the business was doing. When it opened in July 1997, mechanical problems with the business’ single refurbished World War II land/sea military vehicle kept it out of commission for nearly half the season.
On top of that, customers weren’t exactly lined up for tickets. “There were days where most of the time no one wanted to get on the duck boat,” D’Addario, 46, said. People would say, “Are you kidding me? The rivers are filthy.”
“We started a business in a city where people didn’t like the rivers.”
He said it was nice to watch as residents came to embrace the city’s rivers in more recent years instead of viewing them with scorn.
With the help of the RiverLife organization formed in 1999 to encourage riverfront development, Pittsburgh residents “have a much better respect for how wonderful the river system is in this great little city,” he said.
Just Ducky now has a fleet of seven, 30-passenger vehicles with a staff of between 60 and 65, including drivers, narrators, office personnel and mechanics.
Downtown pedestrians have become accustomed to seeing the brightly colored, odd-looking wheeled boats weave through the streets as passengers wave and eagerly recite the required greeting: “Quack, quack, quack.”
This past season, 70,000 people took a tour from Just Ducky, which typically operates seven days a week from April 1 through November. Tickets are $23 for adults, $15 for children and $5 for kids age 2 and under, with refunds offered if a tour is canceled because of dangerous weather or fast-moving currents.
D’Addario plans to bring an eighth boat into service for the 2016 season and is in the process of negotiating to expand Just Ducky’s current location at Station Square.
