Travelers in the coming years may reach Anna Maria Island shores the way early visitors arrived — via a ferry or water taxi.

At least one proposal for a shuttle service has been submitted at Anna Maria and Bradenton Beach city halls, and the issue is an agenda topic for Anna Maria commissioners meeting this week.

Capt. Tracey Dell of Anna Maria Island Shuttle Service has suggested two water taxi or water shuttle routes — one from Anna Maria to Fort DeSoto Park and Bay Pier in St. Petersburg and another from Anna Maria to Holmes Beach to Bradenton Beach.

A one-way fare on a shuttle would cost $5-$10, depending on the length of the trip and the route, according to Dell’s proposal letter to Island officials. A one-week pass would cost about $60.

The captain estimated the cost to operate a shuttle service at about $500 a day or $97,000 a year.

Dell, in his letter to Island officials, said he would need permission to dock 6-8 times a day at boarding locations, such as the Anna Maria City Pier on the north end of the Island and the Historic Bridge Street Pier on the southern end.

The concept of a water taxi has long engaged locals, who have seen the sepia-toned photographs of yesteryear, before bridges to the Island and when ferries transported beach-bound day-trippers from St. Petersburg and Tampa.

“It seems a perfect idea,” said Terri Natalini, who lives near the Bridge Street pier in Bradenton Beach. “It’s nostalgic, historic, but also progressive in that it would reduce vehicle traffic.”

“I’m excited about the idea. I’ve taken shuttles across San Francisco Bay and up in Maine,” said commuter Kris Mackifee of Perico Island. “A water taxi could add a whole new and fantastic dimension to getting to work.”

Dell’s proposal also has some Island officials reviewing a 2005 report from the Renaissance Planning Group for the Sarasota-Manatee Metropolitan Planning Organization. The report, a water taxi feasibility study, examined the possibilities of establishing a water service.

The 26-page analysis found that “with the proper mix of public and private investment, the Sarasota-Manatee area, with its vast navigable waterways, is ripe for the expansion of the regional transportation system to include waterborne transit as an integral element.”

The MPO report emphasized the public transportation positives of a water taxi service that served the needs of commuters as well as vacationers, as does the fare-free Island trolley service.

Several possible routes were examined: a service that included Sarasota, Longboat Key and Siesta Key; a southern route connecting Venice and Nokomis Beach; an Anna Maria Island service; a route with stops along the Manatee River and across Anna Maria Sound to the Island, and also a route originating near the Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport, possibly from a dock at Manatee County’s Powell Crosley Estate.

The MPO study indicated that the most successful system likely would put vessels on the water that could make short, high-frequency trips.

The researchers determined that at least two vessels per route would be needed, and estimated each vessel would cost about $250,000.

Fares, according to the feasibility study, would be about $2-$5 per shuttle ride, and cover “no more than 50 percent of the operating costs.”