Ride the Ducks tours in San Francisco fly out of town

SAN FRANCISCO -- A San Francisco tourist attraction has closed its doors at Fisherman's Wharf.

The Ride the Duck tours have been operating for years, but not any more.

Remnants of the popular tour company, duckprints painted on the sidewalk along Taylor Street leading to the tour company's boats, remain despite the closure.

Many people have yet to learn that the tours have shut down.

The company that runs the amphibious tours offered few answers Wednesday at their garage on Napoleon Street in San Francisco.

The company still runs motorized cable car tours, but no one at the company is saying much.

The company that took San Francisco customers on 90-minute land and water tours told the SF Gate that they will continue to operate in other cities, but are shutting down in San Francisco because of the city's challenging business environment.

One possible problem is that that for safety's sake, the city requires both a driver and a tour guide.

At Fisherman's Wharf, local business owners say they will miss the duck boats and the customers they attracted.

"It is action here and people are happy," said business owner Mandy Huang. "I miss that. We need them to come back. Bring people."

There was no word yet on what will happen to the dry-docked duck boats.