Royal Marines who were injured in Afghanistan are being brought in to ferry tourists around the London Olympics site next year.
The servicemen will be working for the company Water Chariots, set up by the father of a wounded marine.
Peter Coleman, who won the contract to operate the route hopes to employ 100 former marines to operate 28 boats negotiating the channels of the Bow Back Rivers. Services will run from Limehouse Basin or Tottenham Hale to Stratford.
The canal boats will stay in operation after the Olympics and will work as pleasure cruisers, run by the servicemen. It is hoped the current regeneration of the waterways and surrounding area will encourage tourists, visitors and local people to travel around by boat.
Services from Limehouse Basin will take around 30 minutes to get to the Olympic site, while those from Tottenham Hale will take approximately 50 minutes. Each waterbus carries up to 70 passengers and will run every 20 minutes.
A joint investment of �300,000 by British Waterways, London Thames Gateway Development Corporation, and the Olympic Delivery Authority has made the waterbus route possible.
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