Herald casts its baleful eye on Water Taxi

Propellerhead

Poor old Evening Herald. It must have missed pouring bile on the Luas project and now its hawkers sell papers at the Green every night to the thousands using the trams.

But never worry, there's a new project to pour scorn on. I give you - The Liffey Ferry. Dubliners sitting in traffic jams can get that certain sour grapes feeling again because the Herald is back making sure that any transport innovation in the city is going to get a good old bucket of vitriol poured over it before it has a chance to get off the ground.

Richard Delevan in his piece tonight over two pages uses journalism that those of us in the Luas Wars would find familiar. Unnamed critics of the project on the Dublin Docklands Development Authority are referred to. A company asked to tender for the service but who refused to do so slags off the concept. There's a lovely piece of withering value judgement: "Despite the challenges, some project backers are undaunted". What would you expect people to support the project to do? Stop supporting the project because the Herald criticises it? Comments about "slimy green covered quay walls" colour the tone of the piece.

I only got the Herald tonight because of the London outrage: I was instantly reminded why I stopped buying the damn thing in the first place.

cal29

i suggest you stop buying it again it is just a rag

arrietty

Propellerhead wrote:

But never worry, there's a new project to pour scorn on. I give you - The Liffey Ferry. Dubliners sitting in traffic jams can get that certain sour grapes feeling again because the Herald is back making sure that any transport innovation in the city is going to get a good old bucket of vitriol poured over it before it has a chance to get off the ground.

You remember the ferry that used to run between Talbot bridge and the Point a few years ago? I know the guy who used to run that.

Propellerhead wrote:

Unnamed critics of the project on the Dublin Docklands Development Authority are referred to.

The DDDA is extremely unsupportive (yes, that's a euphemism) of attempts to put a ferry on the Liffey. Don't ask me how I know this. I just do. :rolleyes:

Propellerhead wrote:

Comments about "slimy green covered quay walls" colour the tone of the piece.

If I ever seriously become an entrepreneur and have a lot of money to pour into a black hole, I'm gonna set up a ferry company on the Liffey. It would work. It could work. It hasn't worked yet.

Victor

arrietty wrote:

The DDDA is extremely unsupportive (yes, that's a euphemism) of attempts to put a ferry on the Liffey. Don't ask me how I know this. I just do. :rolleyes:

It is the DDDA that are running this service.

landser

The Herald is one of the worst papers in ireland, being beaten from the top spot by the "Irish" london tabloids. i haven't bought the rag in years. i accepted a free copy some months ago, and was appalled by the negativity, sensationalaism, and the piss poor reporting contained in it.

in order for it to sell, it has to be seen as conroversial and run eye catching headlines. unfortunately, "Liffey ferry will be great" is less appealing to your punter than "Liffey ferry will cost millions and no one will use it". People love misery, and always will want to complain about something... the herald suits them perfectly.

arrietty

Victor wrote:

It is the DDDA that are running this service.

Hmmm. Didn't know that. Thanks!

LegacyUser

The Herald, lol, I wouldnt line my dogs basket with that paper, even if I had a dog!!

Traffic

The service is not aimed at commuters.

It is going to be operating tours along the river

The DAA own the vessel but the service will be operated by another party

murphaph

Traffic wrote:

The DAA own the vessel but the service will be operated by another party

Ryanair?

D'Peoples Voice

arrietty wrote:

If I ever seriously become an entrepreneur and have a lot of money to pour into a black hole, I'm gonna set up a ferry company on the Liffey. It would work. It could work. It hasn't worked yet.

Call me a muppet but I believed the pub talk that said it couldn't be done because when the tide comes in, there is no room for a canoe to fit under some of our bridges never mind a boat/ferry.
Their source must have been the Evening Herald!
Can someone clarify if a ferry would fit under our bridges at high tide!
Or can we build dams/weirs or something along those lines if necessary, like on the river in Prague

Traffic

Yes the vessel is of a design similar to that used in other european cities with low bridges so it sits low in the water
will be able to travel up as far as essex quay but any further will depend on tides - low level of water

arrietty

D'Peoples Voice wrote:

Can someone clarify if a ferry would fit under our bridges at high tide!
Or can we build dams/weirs or something along those lines if necessary, like on the river in Prague

Depends on the ferry. There's actually a surprising amount of clearance under the bridges at high tide. Spring tides (extra-high tides) might be a problem, though. I think there might actually be a problem with water depth for propellors (again, moreso with neap/extra-low tides) at low tide, more than bridge clearance at high tide. And you can't use waterjets on the Liffey because plastic bags block the intakes and it's a really big problem (seriously!)
Dunno if anyone's put forward a serious proposal of a weir... there's shipping traffic up as far as the IFSC, so it couldn't interfere with that.

SteM

I don't think this would work. I've walked along the Liffey and even around Capel Street some days the water level is so low that you wouldn't get a toy boat to float in it never mind a water taxi!

Kingsize

I'd Just Like To Reiterrate What A Sh-itrag The Herald Is.

MorningStar

arrietty wrote:

Depends on the ferry. There's actually a surprising amount of clearance under the bridges at high tide. Spring tides (extra-high tides) might be a problem, though.

Are you sure it's only the spring tides to be worrying about? There ae definitely times of the a boat could not get past the Customs House. The shallow water is also a concern as you siad. I know the lifey can handle boats but I thought I read that it was all really complicated so the bay was built up with the various walls by Blight (sp?) to make sure Dublin could develop and not rely on the Lifey.
Open to correction

John R

You may be thinking of shipping navigation. The walls were built to stop the entrance to the port silting up so as reasonably large ships could get in, before they were built all but the shallowest ships would risk running aground way out into the bay in low tides.

Victor

MorningStar wrote:

Are you sure it's only the spring tides to be worrying about? There ae definitely times of the a boat could not get past the Customs House. The shallow water is also a concern as you siad. I know the lifey can handle boats but I thought I read that it was all really complicated so the bay was built up with the various walls by Blight (sp?) to make sure Dublin could develop and not rely on the Lifey.
Open to correction

By constraining the rivers (Liffey, Dodder, Tolka) and creating a relatively narrow harbour mouth the flow of water, especially with the tides, scours the navigation channel.

The boat they have is quite shallow and wide, so as to minimize interference from bridges and low tides