Construction workers are putting the finishing touches on The Wharf, the Southwest development opening later this week that boasts more than a dozen restaurants from local food groups, retail offerings, and music venues.

To ensure that diners fill the tables, peruse the shops, and otherwise venture into the 24-acre, $2 billion project, public officials and business leaders want to make sure that curious crowds know how, precisely, to mosey to the Southwest waterfront.

“We want to reacquaint people with coming down to The Wharf,” said D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser as she boarded a new, free bus at L’Enfant Plaza called the “Southwest Neighborhood Shuttle.”

Starting at L’Enfant and continuing in a loop for a total of five stops around the National Mall, the two shuttles will operate with 10-15 minute headways, all trackable through a new app.

The shuttle is one new way for landlubbers to travel down to the waterfront, in addition to the nearby Waterfront Metro and hundreds of bike parking stations and three Capital Bikeshare stations. A Circulator route is also being adjusted to include The Wharf by the spring.

How will The Wharf will accommodate the influx of five new dockless bike companies? “We’re going to find out,” said Monty Hoffman, founder and CEO of developer PN Hoffman.

There’s also parking for cars—about 1,500 underground and parallel spaces to be shared between visitors and the development’s residents—though officials want to highlight all the other ways people can get there.

For those interested in a more nautical route down, visitors can access The Wharf through a new regional water taxi service that has stops in Georgetown and Old Town Alexandria, with another planned this spring for National Harbor in Maryland.

Run by Chicago-based Entertainment Cruises, which purchased the 30-year-old Potomac River Boat Company last spring, the water taxis are designed specifically for D.C., said CEO Kenneth Svendsen, with speeds up to about 22 knots and a barely visible wake.

On a surprisingly hot day in October, Bowser, Ward 6 Councilmember Charles Allen and a slew of media joined Svendsen, Hoffman, and Amer Hammour, chairman of Madison Marquette, on the water to give the high speed ferries a spin and feel a welcome breeze.

For now, there are two water taxis that’ll take folks to The Wharf. In the spring, two more will join the fleet. Entertainment Cruises already has three water taxis in Alexandria, but this is its first foray into an intra-D.C. water transportation system.

Allen isn’t intimidated by the idea that visitors will take the opportunity to decamp for Ward 2 via boat. “Not to take anything away from Georgetown, but I think they’re going to want to come here rather than the other way around,” he said.

Svendsen says he expects the water taxis to bring 300,000 people to the Southwest development annually. The hope is for the service to become an option for commuters in addition to visitors, though the timetables for the rides will change depending on the seasons. During peak times, April through October, there’ll be more trips than non-peak, and the water taxis stop altogether in January and February.

He says that this configuration is “the first of many phases” for the service, which the company will adjust as it learns more about how riders are using it. One way tickets are $12 for adults and $8.40 for kids, and roundtrip will cost $20 per adult and $14 per child. The service begins on October 12 and each vessel comfortably holds 125 passengers.

There’s another boat service—The Wharf Jitney—that’ll take folks from the development to East Potomac Park and back, free of charge.

Hammour, the chairman of Madison Marquette, the real estate agency partnering with PN Hoffman to build and operate The Wharf, says the development is ready for opening day, even if not all of the shops and restaurants will roll out the welcome mat at that time.

“In some ways, it’s more fun because every week there’s something new happening,” Hammour says.

One much-hyped event that’ll take place on opening weekend? The Foo Fighters will inaugurate The Anthem, the 6,000-person music venue. “I’m really excited to see the Foo Fighters open,” said Bowser.

Allen said he too scored tickets to the sold-out Foo Fighters show, but is more excited that The Wharf will “fundamentally change the way our city relates to the water.”