Cruise to work on the waves: plan to set up water transport service (From Thisisdorset)
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Cruise to work on the waves: plan to set up water transport service
1:00pm Sunday 2nd September 2012 in Latest By Melanie Vass
NO JAMS: And with sights of the Jurassic Coast
DORSET commuters could be able to cruise to work in the future, under ambitious plans for a ground-breaking waterborne transport service.
The county council is set to bid for £2.856 million to set up a commuter and tourist service along the Jurassic Coast , focusing on ferrying passengers between Bournemouth, Poole, Studland and Swanage .
If successful with its second stage bid to the Coastal Communities Fund, it would also look to set up a hopper service between Exmouth and West Bay.
A report to cabinet states that the idea of trying to get more people to travel by boat has long been an ambition for Dorset County Council, in the hope it would ease pressure on congested coastal roads.
Current figures indicate that up to 8,100 vehicles travel daily on coastal roads in August and traffic has grown on some sections of road by between 23 and 34 per cent in just 11 years.
A survey of more than 2,000 residents and visitors, carried out in 2010, indicated that over 90 per cent of people would be interested in using waterborne transport along the Jurassic Coast.
More than 500 stage one applications were made to the Coastal Community Fund, which has £18m to give to local authorities. Dorset County Council is one of 53 authorities invited to submit a stage two application.
Their bid asks for grant funding to develop a ferry route and build landing stages, connect the route to bus services, fund integrated smart ticketing, provide passenger information and market the new service.
The report states: “If the bid is successful, there will be an opportunity to pilot a passenger ferry service operation in both Bournemouth/Poole and Purbeck as well as East Devon/West Dorset.
“This will integrate with the existing public transport network, as well as walking and cycling routes, resulting in a truly integrated transport offer.
“Integrated ticketing and ‘smart’ card technology will be an integral part of the project, as will intelligent marketing of services to visitors and residents.” Cabinet members will consider the report next Wednesday.
Bournemouth Council cabinet member and transport portfolio holder Michael Filer said: “Our road links in Dorset are very poor and I would back any improvement in transport links wholeheartedly; whether for commercial purposes or for tourism. It is important that local councils work together; we need to make it easier for the people who come here to move around the county.”
Comments(35)
elite50
says...
2:30pm Sun 2 Sep 12
How about a few balloons getting people to work?
In a strong wind the commuters could catch a train from Scotland to get to work!
Do people actually VOTE for these idiots?
Tony7
says...
2:30pm Sun 2 Sep 12
username is already in use
says...
2:48pm Sun 2 Sep 12
boverboy
says...
2:51pm Sun 2 Sep 12
penhale
says...
3:12pm Sun 2 Sep 12
Will they never learn to keep their greasy fingers away from anything that they have neither the skill or business sense to complete.
Doomed to failure and it will be us who picks up the tab.
Bournefre
says...
4:03pm Sun 2 Sep 12
Perhaps it would be worth building a replacement monorail service just in case.
lostnfound
says...
4:55pm Sun 2 Sep 12
John T
says...
5:19pm Sun 2 Sep 12
Would the Council have to claim off the Council, or some other ARS-like group?
muscliffman
says...
5:29pm Sun 2 Sep 12
Bournefre wrote:Wow, Monorail...........D
Excellent - ambitious, ground-breaking plans are exactly what the local taxpayers want. In the past people have suggested building a monorail as a way to use excess funds but a boat service is much better because it is reliant on sea conditions; the service could be cancelled whenever the sea is a bit choppy meaning a load of people can't get to work.
Perhaps it would be worth building a replacement monorail service just in case.
oh!
But why not, and indeed put it in the sea on stilts, as well?
Already £millions of public money dumped in there, or about to be - for absolutely no good purpose. There should be a mono-rail public money grant scheme.
So after the unworking Reef (etc) the very questionable proposed windfarm, this laughable boat buses idea and then next a barking mono-rail plan.
'All Aboard!' there is money to be made - but not of course by the mugged tax payer.
wonderway
says...
6:03pm Sun 2 Sep 12
whoops thats start in few years time £10 return i expect
Turtlebay
says...
6:39pm Sun 2 Sep 12
The survey was done in AUGUST! How many of the cars were grockles?
Turtlebay
says...
6:39pm Sun 2 Sep 12
The survey was done in AUGUST! How many of the cars were grockles?
pugs0404
says...
6:46pm Sun 2 Sep 12
X Old Bill
says...
7:12pm Sun 2 Sep 12
Bournefre wrote:North Haverbrook had a Monorail.
Excellent - ambitious, ground-breaking plans are exactly what the local taxpayers want. In the past people have suggested building a monorail as a way to use excess funds but a boat service is much better because it is reliant on sea conditions; the service could be cancelled whenever the sea is a bit choppy meaning a load of people can't get to work.
Perhaps it would be worth building a replacement monorail service just in case.
And:
The idea of a boat being GROUND breaking suggests running onto rocks at some future time.
Sorry, but when a ship breaks ground it is usually the ship which comes off worse from the encounter.
SeafaringMan
says...
7:48pm Sun 2 Sep 12
High Treason
says...
8:27pm Sun 2 Sep 12
KLH
says...
9:07pm Sun 2 Sep 12
Isle of Wight/Bournemouth would also be a good idea.
MrPitiful
says...
9:10pm Sun 2 Sep 12
Wtfcstevewebs
says...
10:06pm Sun 2 Sep 12
KLH wrote:It is a quality idea, already proven to work in other Countries. Our council should take tips from portugal and the company TransTejo E Soflusa for it to work effectively. Countries like this haven't got money to waste like us so they tend to get things right.
I quite like it and would use it.
Isle of Wight/Bournemouth would also be a good idea.
The Liberal
says...
8:06am Mon 3 Sep 12
With that kind of attitude, this country would still be in the Stone Age – “New-fangled bronze? Pah! That’ll never work! And what a waste of good firewood to smelt it!”
Azphreal
says...
8:52am Mon 3 Sep 12
Old Colonial
says...
9:09am Mon 3 Sep 12
The Liberal wrote:Local authorities are not there to speculate or deal in concepts. They should be using our money wisely and only capitalising on proven schemes and projects.
Some people are so negative, immediately shouting down any new ideas when they clearly haven't got any of their own.
With that kind of attitude, this country would still be in the Stone Age – “New-fangled bronze? Pah! That’ll never work! And what a waste of good firewood to smelt it!”
People are not solely being negative but realistic, and understandably cynical about Councillors ability to get to grips with the real world.
The Liberal
says...
9:10am Mon 3 Sep 12
Azphreal wrote:Those might be reasons to question the idea, but not to dismiss it outright. It's hardly pointless thinking about it. Indeed, it's well worth trying just to see if it works, particularly if the funding is available.
The Liberal the reason people are 'shouting down' this idea are 1) Will it cost more than the car journey? 2) Will it still run in bad weather? 3) How long would it take and how often would it run?. Until these are answered its pointless even thinking about it.
lostnfound
says...
10:35am Mon 3 Sep 12
If this is such a good idea, why hasn't some businessman entrepreneur not thought of it before?
Of course, I forgot why this is such a good idea, it would use OPM (other peoples money).
bornINpoole69
says...
10:53am Mon 3 Sep 12
pete woodley
says...
4:50pm Mon 3 Sep 12
Bournefre
says...
6:06pm Mon 3 Sep 12
The Liberal wrote:I have ideas thanks.
Some people are so negative, immediately shouting down any new ideas when they clearly haven't got any of their own.
With that kind of attitude, this country would still be in the Stone Age – “New-fangled bronze? Pah! That’ll never work! And what a waste of good firewood to smelt it!”
The reason some people are so negative about these things is that the council don't have a very good track record when it comes to new-fangled, revolutionary, ground-breaking ideas.
A 'boat-bus' might sound like a lovely idea but it is fraught with potential problems which wouldn't exist with improving an existing mass transit system. Without trying out ambitious ideas we might not have an Imax or surf reef, while on the other hand if every ambitious idea were trialled we might have a town full of expensive failures like Imaxes, surf reefs and boat-buses.
Wtfcstevewebs
says...
9:55pm Mon 3 Sep 12
lostnfound wrote:Of course this will need public money but so did the surf reef, lifting bridge and canford bottom roundabout. They were all objected to and have been well used
The Liberal
If this is such a good idea, why hasn't some businessman entrepreneur not thought of it before?
Of course, I forgot why this is such a good idea, it would use OPM (other peoples money).
kingstonpaul
says...
10:03pm Mon 3 Sep 12
I live in London. Even in a city with 2 million commuters daily, there is little demand for river boat services. The financial model means that for most commuters the cost of using these services is prohibitively high.
DorsetEco
says...
11:35pm Mon 3 Sep 12
As for commuting by sea, as a yachtsman, I can assure you that the service will be very uncomfortable or impossible on many days of the year, and therefore a commercial disaster.
The geniuses who thought up this scheme need to apply for jobs in the City, banking etc. their obvious talents would be most welcome there.
paul.p
says...
4:45pm Tue 4 Sep 12
I could list the amount of times a better transport system could've been addressed. All visitors do when they cross into Dorset is sit in a traffic Jam all because of you and your type poo pooing road building that would'nt look good running past your garden.
This boat idea has sunk already, why not spend the money on something that already exists?
Swan944
says...
10:19pm Wed 5 Sep 12
http://www.thamescli
ppers.com/why-clippe
r/why-clipper.html
I think it is a good idea if they can make the business case work with the volume of people.
The chain ferry is a pain and the roads around Sandbanks are not built for the traffic.
I like the idea as long as they make it work. Christchurch and Weymouth would be useful too.
Swan944
says...
10:22pm Wed 5 Sep 12
Ebb Tide
says...
12:14pm Mon 10 Sep 12
Perhaps a monorail would be a better investment after all - getting people off the roads and leaving more space for the heavy loads ? Having seen monorails installed in heavily 'built-up' areas, the track could fly over our houses and be less susceptible to channel storms.
muscliffman says...
2:07pm Sun 2 Sep 12
Mind you 'More Boats' has a ring to it, eight sail past in five minutes followed by none for nearly an hour - sound familiar?
And, think of the media opportunities, 'All Aboard' headlines all over the place (yet again) and plenty of 'grinning Councillor' pictures.
But I do hope that the boats look out for all those new wind farm pylons off the coast...ooops too late.