Captain Mark Schiller will get what he has long wanted tomorrow night -- docking privileges at Station Square -- and the city will thus get an all-night water taxi linking three entertainment districts: Station Square, the North Shore and the Strip District.

Though a project years in the waiting, the OK came suddenly, and so the Pittsburgh Water Limo will have to handle a Pirates homestand, a Saturday fireworks night, and a string of saloon managers who may not be ready for all the various deals and discounts their owners have cobbled together with the boat guys.

"We've got the bar on board," Capt. Schiller said yesterday as we rode the three rivers. "Most people should be just fine. I don't know. We'll find out."

The boat, which can carry 49, will run from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. every Friday and Saturday until at least Labor Day and maybe until Halloween. The maiden voyage leaves the Strip District dock at 23rd Street (where parking is free) at 8 Friday. It will head for Station Square, leave that dock at 8:30, and then head for The Watersteps between the stadiums on the North Side. It will leave there at 8:45 to complete the loop to the Strip, taking off again at 9 and leaving for a round-trip every hour until 1 a.m.

The one-stop price is $4 but a person can ride all night for $8.

The Water Limo has been running Pirates fans between the Strip District and PNC Park, starting 90 minutes before each game, since last June. It's been hauling frigid football fans from Downtown to the North Side since 1999. But a weekend taxi service that included Station Square had long been this missing link from allowing a weekend party loop.

Rocco Miller, Station Square general manager, needed approval from Forest City Enterprises in Cleveland, and wanted to be sure this water taxi didn't interfere with the Gateway Clipper, which has shuttled fans to Pirates games for decades.

"We didn't want to bring in a service that would compete with them out of respect for their business operation," Mr. Miller said, calling them "one of our anchor tenants."

So this taxi begins well after the ballgame's opening pitch at 7:05 p.m., and goes from the North Shore to the Strip District, leaving direct ballpark-to-Station-Square service to the Gateway Clipper.

Roy Martin Smith, marketing manager for the Hard Rock Cafe at Station Square, likes the idea of this "fun and unique" way to party along the rivers. So his club is offering 15 percent off entrees and soft drinks to water taxi riders, and will waive the cover charge on nights with live music. Mullaney's Harp & Fiddle, the Firehouse, Buckhead Saloon, Matrix, Calico Jack's, McFadden's, Firewaters, Mullen's and Finnigan's Wake are among the other night spots offering discounts to boat riders.

The Pirates also have hopped aboard, offering seven levels of game packages, from $10 to $52, that essentially include a free round-trip ride from the Strip and drink aboard the boat for the price of the game ticket. With free parking at the Strip District dock, that deal amounts to, as the fliers say, "Piracy on the High Seas!"

Other water taxis have failed here. Mr. Schiller, his wife, Janice, Merle Crouse, a local beer distributor, and his wife, Mary Ann, are all in this one together. They sought the contract in 2004 when the Port of Pittsburgh was subsidizing a water taxi, but another boat company got the job. That experiment ended after three summers, with ever-shortened hours and the Pittsburgh Water Limo taking the final season. But Mr. Schiller said that service ran on someone else's schedule. He's confident he has the right formula now -- without any subsidy.

He's looking into buying a second boat in hopes of one day incorporating the SouthSide Works into a second loop, but docks there are a long way from reality. Anyway, he needs to make this loop work first.

The boat easily made its timetable yesterday during our trial run, but the rivers weren't closed for a Skyblast fireworks show, as they will be for a long while Saturday night. Also, nobody was telling the captain, "You gotta wait for my buddy; he's in the men's room."

(The Pittsburgh Water Limo can be reached at 412-221-LIMO (5466). Its Web site is pghwaterlimo.com. Reservations are taken only for the Pirates shuttles.)