Liffey commute

de breeze

Living in Dun Laoghaire, working in town, enduring regular car commutes. I've been wondering is there anything to stop me using say a rib or speedboat to commute. Seems to be routine in many other cities similarly served by navigable river. Don't believe you can be breathalysed on the water either.

Anyone ever tried it? Just curious

Victor

You are only allowed 5 kt inside the harbour - thats 9km/h - it won't be any faster, but it may be a lot wetter.

Run_to_da_hills

Victor wrote: »

You are only allowed 5 kt inside the harbour - thats 9km/h - it won't be any faster, but it may be a lot wetter.

I dont think the 5 Kt inside harbour limit worked in Sydney Harbour last night.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7376681.stm

What about one of theses http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibbs_Aquada.

Doodah7

de breeze wrote: »

Living in Dun Laoghaire, working in town, enduring regular car commutes. I've been wondering is there anything to stop me using say a rib or speedboat to commute. Seems to be routine in many other cities similarly served by navigable river. Don't believe you can be breathalysed on the water either.

Anyone ever tried it? Just curious

Why don't you get the DART or the 46A and you wouldn't have to endure a car commute. You can't say you 'need' your car if you are thinking of taking a dinghy to work...

Run_to_da_hills

tallpaul wrote: »

Why don't you get the DART or the 46A and you wouldn't have to endure a car commute. You can't say you 'need' your car if you are thinking of taking a dinghy to work...

Or better still get a Motorbike, I can get from Dunlaoghaire Shopping Ctr to O' Connel street in 25 Minutes on a Honda Bros in rush hour traffic.

emmagean

getting back on topic, the OPs original question asked if there was anything to stop him using a boat to cummute.

I dont know the answer to this but its something ive always wondered.
surely there is a business opportunity for someone out there to launch a water taxi service of sorts from say dun laoighaire on the southside and from malahide on the northside?

I'm sure there are many reasons why not though......

seamus

emmagean wrote: »

I'm sure there are many reasons why not though......

Prohibitive insurance I'd say. Although you wouldn't have any legal obligation to obtain insurance, it would be a good idea. And once you told the company that you'd be ferrying 50 non-boating people a day, 9km at highish speed (you'd have to be travelling at > 30km/h to be worth it) in open water, you'd probably be raped for insurance.

The liffey taxi service wouldn't have any of these problems because it's a relatively slow-moving taxi-style boat that only has to cross a gently moving river.

In reality, I don't think there's anything preventing someone from commuting via boat, it's just not a great idea. Boats are expensive, their upkeep is expensive and their berthing can be expensive. In bad weather, you'll arrive on the far side soaking wet and shook up. In really bad weather you may not arrive on the far side at all.
Motorbikes on the other hand are relatively cheap to buy, maintain and insure. You can get gear to keep you warm and dry in any condition and it will normally allow you drive almost up to the door of work. Overall, the trip will also work out much faster.

paulm17781

If you've ever seen the Liffey at low tide you'd know why people don't commute by boat.

Colm R

The Dart is not perfect I grant you that. The bus isn't perfect, I grant you that.

But why would someone drive from Dun Laoighre to town every day.

loyatemu

plenty of people do - check out the Rock Road during the evening rush. I suppose if you don't live near the Dart station and have an aversion to the Bus (OK, the 46a is probably the best route in the city, but there's not much competition for that title).

markpb

emmagean wrote: »

I dont know the answer to this but its something ive always wondered. surely there is a business opportunity for someone out there to launch a water taxi service of sorts from say dun laoighaire on the southside and from malahide on the northside?

I guess the three areas you mentioned already served by Dart which, while it's not exactly a shining beacon of public transport, is the best we've got. Any boat will be hard pressed to beat it.

paulm17781

markpb wrote: »

I guess the three areas you mentioned already served by Dart which, while it's not exactly a shining beacon of public transport, is the best we've got. Any boat will be hard pressed to beat it.

Again, if you have ever seen the Liffey at low tide you'd know why this isn't viable.

This comes up here an in the media every so often and it just isn't viable unless they dam the Liffey.

markpb

paulm17781 wrote: »

Again, if you have ever seen the Liffey at low tide you'd know why this isn't viable.

This comes up here an in the media every so often and it just isn't viable unless they dam the Liffey.

That is true - you'd need something which can both float on water and crawl around in the muck, dodging traffic cones and shopping trolleys at speed. Interesting concept.

paulm17781

markpb wrote: »

That is true - you'd need something which can both float on water and crawl around in the muck, dodging traffic cones and shopping trolleys at speed. Interesting concept.

You could be on to something here Mark, let's go to the patent office NOW!

Run_to_da_hills

markpb wrote: »

That is true - you'd need something which can both float on water and crawl around in the muck, dodging traffic cones and shopping trolleys at speed. Interesting concept.

Its called a hovercraft

paulm17781

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

Its called a hovercraft

A hovercraft hasn't a hope on the low tide Liffey, it would be cut to shreds. Too uneven. Just wait for Mark's and my business...

Run_to_da_hills

paulm17781 wrote: »

A hovercraft hasn't a hope on the low tide Liffey, it would be cut to shreds. Too uneven. Just wait for Mark's and my business...

Then a swamp boat

de breeze

I can see not everyone is convinced on this one. Shame on me but my experience of public transport is overcrowded and unreliable. Not sold on motorbikes either. Putting the speedboat aside for a moment, a hydrofoil service could link City centre and places not well served by rail such as Wicklow. bear in mind also it's a long way from the Point to the Dart and a lot of development is ongoing around the mouth of the river.

Low tide simply isn't an issue up to Matt Talbot bridge - the boats on swinging moorings at Poolbeg never touch the bottom.....

Tabnabs

Two very simple reasons why it would be difficult to do. Where are you going to put the boat in DL and where are you going to put the boat in Dublin? DL Marina is 100% full and so is Poolbeg, there's no where else to put the boat on this route. A good quality RIB capable of doing this run, day in day out in, all sorts of weather, is going to cost upwards of €50,000, annual running costs even if you did get a place to put it would run to over €10k.

The maths just don't add up

Having said that, you'd have the biggest grin on your face of any commuter in Dublin!

Victor

Would a hovercraft be street legal?

mikemac

Isn't there a boat from the IFSC to Malahide? More of a pleasure tour than a commuter service. Pretty good idea to bring a date on actually!

I can't give a link as I don't know the company's name but I've definitly seen it

Tabnabs

http://www.seasafari.ie/

Pigeon Reaper

You'd get insurance and a good passenger rib would be about €50,000 with inboard diesel etc. check out apolloduck.ie for ideas. Licence is a requirement as is insurance for a commerical boat. Private boats are a different story. The liffy is navigable at all stages of the tide up to the customs house. Higher up it beomes a bit hairy at LW. The main reason it's not done is the weather. anyopne else notice that these questions only appear around this time of year with nice calm days? Anything above a F5/6 in a Rib is uncomfortable. Above F7/8 they wouldn't be able to take passengers out past Poolbeg safely.

Ham'nd'egger

Pigeon Reaper wrote: »

You'd get insurance and a good passenger rib would be about €50,000 with inboard diesel etc. check out apolloduck.ie for ideas. Licence is a requirement as is insurance for a commerical boat. Private boats are a different story. The liffy is navigable at all stages of the tide up to the customs house. Higher up it beomes a bit hairy at LW. The main reason it's not done is the weather. anyopne else notice that these questions only appear around this time of year with nice calm days? Anything above a F5/6 in a Rib is uncomfortable. Above F7/8 they wouldn't be able to take passengers out past Poolbeg safely.

How long would it take to navigate a boat into Dublin from Dun Laoghaire including mooring times etc, as a matter of interest?

Run_to_da_hills

Victor wrote: »

Would a hovercraft be street legal?

The weather would put it off straight away, they can only opperate effectivly in very calm weather. hydrofoils may be a better option, they use these commuting between Corfu and Albania but are still limited by the weather

Pigeon Reaper

tying alongside steps is about a minutes work. In flat calm weather at about 20 knots DL harbour entrance is about 10/15 minutes from Poolbeg lighthouse. Coming out of the Harbour in DL is around 5 minutes. I'd say 30 mins should do the trip on a good day. In a swell it will take longer.

Hydrofoils can't handle big seas and it would need to drop to displacement speeds after Poolbeg on the way in unlike a small rib. Hovercraft use too much fuel but would be good for taking shortcuts into ringsend/Irishtown if the tide was out.

de breeze

The idea of Dun Laoghaire being full is a curious one as the harbour extends to hundreds of acres and has only one commercial customer. Most of the space is of course taken up by swinging moorings which are a hopelessly inefficient use of space. Lots more berths could be opened up in DL for all kinds of uses but the appalling harbour company deliberately restricts the market to make money. This is a state monopoly of the very worst kind.

While on the subject why is DL the only harbour anywhere that hosts 4 large private and exclusive yacht clubs at peppercorn rents. All designed of course to keep out proles like me.

end of today's rant