Commuting by boat

Panjandrums

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gctest50

Panjandrums wrote: »

Has anyone heard of people commuting by boat ? .

4,200,000 times

MBNA Thames Clippers expects 4.2 million journeys to have been made in 2016 on its central and east London services, up from 3.3 million three years ago.

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Panjandrums

This post has been deleted.

fergal.b

There are a few water taxi's about this one is on lough Erne, I think there is also one in Dublin running from the city moorings north quays to Sir John Rogerson's quay.

pedroeibar1

So you have the RIB, leave DL or Howth and head for D1 /D2. Where do you moor? How safe would any boat be tied up on the quays?

Alkers

pedroeibar1 wrote:

So you have the RIB, leave DL or Howth and head for D1 /D2. Where do you moor? How safe would any boat be tied up on the quays?

And what's your daily fuel bill?!

HeidiHeidi

pedroeibar1 wrote: »

So you have the RIB, leave DL or Howth and head for D1 /D2. Where do you moor? How safe would any boat be tied up on the quays?

And what about when it's wind over tide coming around the Bailey in a F6 easterly :eek:

pedroeibar1

HeidiHeidi wrote: »

And what about when it's wind over tide coming around the Bailey in a F6 easterly :eek:

I’ve no doubt that you’d handle the weather, Heidi, but the handbag might get a bit damp, so you’d have to discard the LV in favour of a cheaper one!:P

I’d be concerned about tying up in Dublin, there’s probably an expensive daily rate on the pontoon by the Jeanie J., and further up (headroom problems) I’d be afraid of the droppings from the boardwalk or to touch a 'greasy' ladder on the quays.

It’s an old idea –in NYC in the 1920’s the Astors, Pulitzers, Vanderbilts and Whitneys were commuting to Wall St. from their homes up the Hudson. When I lived in NYC I occasionally did an evening commute by ferry on the East River – it ran summer months from South Street Seaport with a few stops to a dock near Gracie Mansion. Back then, at $10, it was not cheap, was slow compared to the private shuttle buses that serviced the same route (FDR & 1st Av. @ $4) so it did not survive.

Lots do it in Venice with the vaporetti, I love the way those guys come alongside, but then the Italians do not have a 'slip & fall' culture.

In Paris the politicos have had a river shuttle between the Assemblée Nationale and Bercy (+/- ‘Govt. Buildings’) for years. More recently a French innovation centre developed Alain Thébault’s (him of sailing speed records) invention of ‘Le Sea Bubble’, a four-passenger foiled electric craft for use on rivers - Macron is a big fan and back when he was a minister he ordered a couple of them, so it will have a future. See Here and Here

Water commute is impractical for most places in Ireland, privately or commercially, we do not have the population to develop an infrastructure for economies of scale.

Boater123

Je veux un Sea Bubble......... maintenant!

pedroeibar1

Boater123 wrote: »

Je veux un Sea Bubble......... maintenant!

J’en veux aussi, mail Il faut attendre!

Huge interest in them apparently. According to Thebault There’s been an avalanche of advance order contacts from Detroit, Miami, Seattle, San Francisco, Tokyo, 15 cities in India, Bangkok, etc.

The project has run into a few problems. A test took place (very successful, they went ‘up’ at 6 knots and cruised at 10)on June 16th last with Anne Hidalgo (Paris Mayor) on board, very successful, huge public interest, etc. However, French law has speed limits on the Seine ranging between 12 & 18 KPH so they did not breach that, despite the fact that the craft is designed for a speed of 50 kph. Apparently they had to swerve several times to avoid ducks, its approach on the electric motors was so quiet!

There was to be another test for the public to try them in September (for which five more were built) but that has been shelved until next spring. Apparently they want the law on the speed limits changed. They also want to simplify the steering/operational controls to make it more user-friendly.

The speed laws are there (like our own) to reduce noise, pollution and wake damage to the banks, and as ‘les Bubbles’ are electric (induction charging on the dock) and on foils they do not pose these problems, and with Hidalgo and Macron behind them it should happen. On va voir!