COMMUTING between Fife and Edinburgh could be transformed with the introduction of a high-speed passenger ferry link across the Firth of Forth.
Specialists hired by transport chiefs have concluded that a river bus linking Edinburgh with south-east Fife over one of Scotland’s busiest waterways is now commercially viable.
A report outlining route options and costs of about £10m will now be
submitted to Feta, the Forth Estuary Transportation Authority, next month. It holds out the prospect of hydrofoils or catamarans whisking up to 150 passengers at a time on the journey from Fife to Edinburgh’s waterfront every 30 minutes at peak times. Fares are expected to be in line with ticket prices on the rail network.
A passenger ferry service between Burntisland and Granton in the early 1990s failed because of lack of demand, no proper terminal and poor links into the centre of Edinburgh. But with demand rising from a growing population in Fife, the major development of Edinburgh’s waterfront, plus firm plans for a £375m tram network linking the shores of the Forth with the city centre in 15 minutes, experts believe the climate has changed.
A trip across the Forth will take about 15 minutes from Burntisland or about 25 minutes from Rosyth or Kirkcaldy. Commuters would then face a 15 minute journey in to the city centre by tram, putting it on a similar timescale as the often overcrowded rail network.
The journey from Burntisland to central Edinburgh by road takes about an hour at peak times and around 25 minutes by train.
A source close to the project said: "It is looking very favourable and I am certain the councils involved will want to take this forward as soon as possible."
The £50,000 study has been carried out by Halcrow, a consultancy that specialises in assessing the viability of civil engineering and transport projects, for Feta.
Halcrow has identified possible arrival and departure points and assessed the costs of a ferry operation.
Route options include from Rosyth, Burntisland or Kirkcaldy on the Fife side of the Forth to Leith, Newhaven or Granton. The report will spell out how many people are expected to use the new service, what they will be prepared to pay, how much revenue will be generated and how much public money would be required to support the project.
Set up costs of a ferry service with two ships and two terminals is estimated to be about £10m. Alf Baird, head of maritime research at Napier University, said Scotland was at least two decades behind many other countries in developing waterborne transport.
"The time for high-speed passenger ferries in Scotland has come," he said. "One thing we must do is change the planners’ opinion that all you can do with a piece of water is tunnel under it or build a bridge over it. Having a ferry is not an odd solution, it is just another form of public transport."
What was required was a high-quality ‘product’ that put ferry services on a par with rail, Baird added. "There are ferries in operation around the world that can compete on speed, quality of airline-style accommodation and the latest electronic facilities."
Baird envisages that if the Forth crossing is successful, services will be extended both up and down the river.
"A circular route could be devised that could go as far as Alloa to the west and Kirkcaldy to the east, linking all the ports in between," he said.
Development of river transport services is also rising up the political agenda in Glasgow, where the Clyde is also regarded as an under-exploited asset.
Strathclyde Passenger Transport already carries around 140,000 passengers on its ferry service between Renfrew and Yoker every year. A 20-minute service also runs in the summer between the Braehead shopping centre near Renfrew and the city centre.
Alistair Watson, chairman of SPT and a Glasgow councillor, said he would support a more extensive riverbus network.
