[One of Vilnius’ new electric boats, named Lašiša, approaching in the distance]
[Boat approaching]
[New electric boat terminal on the Neris River next to the King Mindaugas Bridge]
[Map and ticketing instructions]
[Map showing stops on the Neris River and points of interest]
[Boat approaching terminal]
Loreta Levulytė-Staškevičienė (interview): “This project comes from the city municipality, the Vilnius City Municipality, and this year, Vilnius is the greenest capital in Europe, and we have a lot of events and a lot of projects on this. One of these is electric boats, fully electric boats on the Neris river.”
[Boat coming into a dock]
[Boat docking at boat stop]
[Worker tying the mooring line to a bollard]
Loreta Levulytė-Staškevičienė (interview): “We are very proud of this project because we are looking in Europe, and nobody else so far did this project. So we are very thankful for our partners, for the boat company who built the boats. And it obviously was a big responsibility for the city and for the citizens to say that, yes, we will have made a boat in six or seven months.”
[Passengers disembarking]
[New passengers boarding]
[Boat interior]
[Ticket purchase being made on a phone]
[Sign showing next stops]
[Boat pilot]
[River with Church of St. Raphael the Archangel in the background]
[North bank of the Neris River]
[Rear view of journey]
Marga Fimbauere (interview): “I think it has made the city better. I think that it is a great initiative that attracts more people to visit the city.”
[Fimbauere looking out at the river]
[Second electric boat, Rytas, traveling in the other direction]
Marga Fimbauere (interview): “I heard an argument before that it will only attract tourists, and that it’s not good. But I do not see, even if it attracted only tourists, I do not see why it would be bad.”
[Boat coming in to dock at another stop]
[Sign reading “Shore Power Connection”]
[Shore Power Connection point]
[Boat pilot plugging boat in to charge]
Polina Ruginiene (interview): “If you live in the centre, in this area, and you work here, I guess, yes (electric boats would be a good thing). Especially, maybe a woman would like it, like a romantic way to go to work, or to clear your mind after work. I think it will be very cool.”
[Boat name]
[Electric boat on Neris in the distance]
Povilas Poderskis (interview): “If we’re saying that it’s public transportation, but it’s slower than walking…so we’re not being honest. And if we’re not being honest about every single part of this green transformation, then people will be confused. And in the end, they will be disappointed.”
[Orthodox Church of Our Lady of the Sign seen from the moving boat]
Povilas Poderskis (interview): “For now, I think it’s a good experiment, and I like experiments. So I’m rooting for it to work, but I’m a bit skeptical.”
[Mayor of Vilnius, Valdas Benkunskas, walking across a lobby to a balcony overlooking city]
Valdas Benkunskas (interview): “We want to bring life to the river, and public transport could help to do that.”
[Electric boat on Neris in the distance]
Valdas Benkunskas (interview): “They (residents) think, wow, we have a river. Maybe every day we can pass by the river, but we never think how beautiful and how amazing it is. So our boat project, I believe definitely that will help to do that.”
[Model of city with river]
This script was provided by The Associated Press.