Commuting by boat

veryangryman

Was reading someones post with an idea to use the Liffey to beat the traffic via speedboat. Of course not possible for reasons outlined on that thread.

But does anyone know of places elsewhere in the world where this is a viable option, or even know people who do it? Thames in England looks like a reasistic way, but i dont know all the facts so...:pac:

Cookie_Monster

Crossing the creek in Dubai.
New York
DHL using the canal in Amsterdam to deliver mail

These come straight to mind (not quite speed boats though)

Venice! A city without roads.

wicklowwonder

Brisbane have a boat service same price as buses as does sydney! Brisbane 1 is very handy to get to the unis from the city or just to escape the city traffic

Carawaystick

Bilbao - passenger ferries cross the Nervion - 25cents a head.

Cobh to Passage West in Cork?

Saint Tropez- I know people who drove there, 3km in 6 hours. Boat is the only sane way there in high season.

Some of the towns and villages in southern Crete, no roads.

Iquitos in Peru, can't get there by road from anywhere else in Peru.
Manaus in Brazil
Stockholm? never been but it's built on Loads of islands.

alexlyons

veryangryman wrote: »

Thames in England looks like a reasistic way, but i dont know all the facts so...:pac:

Speed limits still exist on the water in controlled water ways. The thames has a speed limit on parts of it, at around 4-8 knots which is 7.5-15 kph. So it may be good for short distances or parts with no speed limits, although the "Port of London Authority" say that "safe speed depends upon the local area conditions and should be determined so that there is no risk of damage to persons or property. Causing damage is an offence, making the master of a craft liable to prosecution."

It's perfectly possible, but IMO the traffic would want to be really crap (and a lot of places it is) and you'd want to be able to go pretty fast to make it really worth while. Depending on where you moor, it can be a fair bit of time and effort making sure its secure, (and also casting off takes more time than simply getting in, turning on the ignition and reversing out of your parking space ) so it could turn out to be a bit of a false economy. I do a fair bit of boating and sometimes depending on the situation, people frequently beat me getting across a harbour with them walking.

Just my 2c, I'm sure there are plenty of places where its much faster to go by boat.

Vic_08

There already are several commuter river services on the Thames run under TfL.

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/gettingaround/1131.aspx

Morf

Deleted User wrote: »

Venice! A city without roads.

The ferry is quite expensive though. Unless you are buying a 30 day ticket etc..

I think i paid €6.30 for an hours travel.

Most people seem to walk though.

L1011

Mersey Ferries are used by huge numbers to commute.

Since the introduction of early and late sailings to Arranmore theres a few commuters from there.

Cionád

The Vancouver Seabus links North Vancouver to Vancouver city centre. All integrated ticketing so you can then hop on a bus or the Skytrain. The boat takes around 10minutes... not a speed boat, but its pretty cool

richardjjd

The Chicago Shoreline Water taxi runs from Union Station / Sears Tower to Navy Pier, March through October during rush hours. A very popular service, and offers a fantastic view of the city.

bmaxi

At one time there were ferries on the Liffey, AFAIR from Custom House Quay to Ringsend. The bridges, in particular Butt Bridge, were always a problem for boat traffic, the Guinness barges had demountable funnels so they could pass underneath and even then, not at high tide.

petergfiffin

A few years back there was a hovercraft service from Limerick to Shannon

munchkin_utd

Hamburg has a very nifty proper ferry service around the harbour for the same price as a normal underground trip, and your normal day/ week/ month commuter ticket is also vaid on it.

Heres a picture of one of them, but they have over a half dozen buzzing about the harbour it seems.



and heres a routemap to show you why they need a ferry there!!

munchkin_utd

Boston also has ferries linking areas south of the city with the city. Service every half an hour, taking 35minutes with 400person capacity ferries.

http://www.bostonharborcruises.com/boston-commuter-boat-services/hingham-to-boston.aspx

Heres the route map to get an idea of the terrain.

unJustMary

Sydney has a whole fleet of ferries in its harbour, pretty sure they're regarded as commuter vehicles: http://www.sydneyferries.info/ especially as they have "A TravelPass [that] gives you unlimited travel around Sydney using a combination of Sydney Ferries, Sydney Buses and CityRail services on a weekly, quarterly or yearly basis."

Auckland has a few less ferries - look at http://www.maxx.co.nz/timetables.html (the Regional Council's public transport site), and choose Ferry to see the options. Definitely commuter vehicles for folks who live on off-shore islands, but there are lots of locations there which are simply on the other side of the harbour. Their ticket integration doesn't stretch to ferries, but definitely monthly etc tix (http://www.maxx.co.nz/pricing-passes/ferry-fares.html)

Wellington has one ferry company (http://www.metlink.org.nz/timetables/other/WHF?lat=&long=) - it goes to a place directly across the harbour, but a few services each day call at a suburb that's about 40-50 minutes from the central-city by bus. (It's a posh suburb, and some of the kids go to a private school on the other side of the harbour. Horrible commute by land, very easy on the water.)
(There are a few folks who commute on a weekly basis from the South Island too, but I don't think that's what you mean.)

Casey_81

veryangryman wrote: »

Was reading someones post with an idea to use the Liffey to beat the traffic via speedboat. Of course not possible for reasons outlined on that thread.

But does anyone know of places elsewhere in the world where this is a viable option, or even know people who do it? Thames in England looks like a reasistic way, but i dont know all the facts so...:pac:

I've had similar thoughts myself about the royal canal... especially when i see it out the window on my journey from the midlands to dublin.. im sure the same could be done with the grand canal.

They could linkk up here... http://dublin.iwai.ie/img/dubmap.jpg

Ste.phen

The locks take a very long time to navigate, making the canals essentially useless for this purpose

Tabnabs

Anywhere that has small islands surrounding a large town/city will have a lot of ferry traffic and private boats used on the daily commute. I have distant relations who live on a very small island and don't own a car, but do have a very tasty motor boat for commuting and the weekly shop.

BostonB

The maldives is an island nation and they commute by boat. Though I don't think they commute that much.

trad

I appled to Waterways Ireland to operate 4 ferries on the Grand Canal in Dublin between Suir Road and Portobelo, effectively linking the 2 Luas lines. Waterways Ireland rejected the application citing a 4 mph (walking speed) speed limit and an issue with nesting bats.

I don't think we're ready to use probably the oldest form of mass transit here just yet.

dowlingm

I was on Seabus last night (we're at the Olympics this week) and it rocks. There's a countdown clock to next departure, ferry rocks up, opposite side doors open, people get off, farside doors close, nearside open, people get on. Enclosed cabin, smooth ride and a great view of Vancouver skyline. During Olympics they are running on 10min freq. It is as much part of the transit system as the Skytrain and Canada Line light metros and street buses with integrated fares.

However, Seabus goes across an estuary right into downtown - hard to think of a similar application in Ireland