Apathy

[jith]

Y'know considering the Scots reputation for inventiveness I find it difficult to understand this nonsense about the Bridge.

They just close it and sit back and watch the ensuing chaos. Why can't they pinch a ferry from Calmac or any of the other operators and run it back and Forth, ( pardon the pun) the way the used to before they built the damn bridge? This system might have been slow, but it was helluva reliable; and if the ferry breaks down you just put another one on.

There are hundreds of these things all over Scotland, they must be able to requisition one or two from somewhere.

J

[marshalla]

Are the ferry piers still serviceable ?
Are there any ferries with the right draft for crossing the Forth ?
Could the roads to the piers cope with the increased traffic ?
Could ferries move enough vehicles ?

[S2red]

Are there any ferries big enough spare?

Just wonder how many folk travelling solo have realised/thought is there is anyone in their work/street travelling same route so car share and take one or more cars off the road?

Or do you file that under don't be stupid :-)

Edited by S2red on Friday 11th December 10:03

[Alex]

Why don't they just use the First, Second and Third bridges?

[clunkbox]

The Arran boat takes 110 cars. The Islay boat can take 85. The fancy new Lewis boat takes 143, the old one 114. The boat that does the Hebredies from Uig takes 54. Calmac could maybe spare one I guess? That is one to three coaches worth of people, and the waiting, loading and unloading time would put the journey times not that far off the detour.

[slf2012]

Ferries would be more of delay. We drove north from Edinburgh on the Friday afternoon when it was announced it would be closed until new year. Our journey took an additional hour.

It would take way more than this to queue up for the ferry, board the ferry, make the transit and then drive off the other end.

[Humper]

clunkbox said:

The Arran boat takes 110 cars. The Islay boat can take 85. The fancy new Lewis boat takes 143, the old one 114. The boat that does the Hebredies from Uig takes 54. Calmac could maybe spare one I guess? That is one to three coaches worth of people, and the waiting, loading and unloading time would put the journey times not that far off the detour.

None of which are in any way suitable..

Western ferries can run 3-4 times an hour between Gourock & Dunoon, I'd reckon double that for the Forth, so thats over 300 cars an hour? Or a ferry for buses? Or sit like lemmings, guess the latter is the way, eh?

[haggishunter]

Surprisingly enough companies don't keep million pound vessels lying around doing nothing so there is no spare boat.

[Hilts]

jith said:

Y'know considering the Scots reputation for inventiveness I find it difficult to understand this nonsense about the Bridge.

They just close it and sit back and watch the ensuing chaos. Why can't they pinch a ferry from Calmac or any of the other operators and run it back and Forth, ( pardon the pun) the way the used to before they built the damn bridge? This system might have been slow, but it was helluva reliable; and if the ferry breaks down you just put another one on.

There are hundreds of these things all over Scotland, they must be able to requisition one or two from somewhere.

J

This is a great idea if your car is one of the say 30000 that make it on to a circa 120 car ferry.

[Orchid1]

One word;

Hovercraft!

[Janluke]

Wasnt there a passenger ferry/hovercraft into Leith from Fife a few years ago? I thought it was a great idea but it didnt seem to last

[jith]

Hilts said:

jith said:

Y'know considering the Scots reputation for inventiveness I find it difficult to understand this nonsense about the Bridge.

They just close it and sit back and watch the ensuing chaos. Why can't they pinch a ferry from Calmac or any of the other operators and run it back and Forth, ( pardon the pun) the way the used to before they built the damn bridge? This system might have been slow, but it was helluva reliable; and if the ferry breaks down you just put another one on.

There are hundreds of these things all over Scotland, they must be able to requisition one or two from somewhere.

J

This is a great idea if your car is one of the say 30000 that make it on to a circa 120 car ferry.

OK bright spark; you come up with a better idea. Or perhaps you prefer to sit on your arse and do nothing, just like the authorities.

J

[Davie]

One of those drive on / drive off things that take 20 cars would perhaps work between the piers at North and South Queensferry but a) both piers are probably unsuitable for traffic) abd b) the roads would be gridlocked and c) imagine trying to bring one of them round from the West coast... it'd take about 6 months.

A bigger ferry would need proper berthing facilities, the Dockyard to Leith would seem to be the only workable solution but as has been said, the time to load, travel and unload wouldn't be far off the time to drive.... via Glasgow, Carlise and Berwick. Plus you'd need two to work in tandem...

Lovely idea but the logistics vs time saved doesn't make much sense.

[AmiableChimp]

Zipwires!

[Phil Dicky]

Alex said:

Why don't they just use the First, Second and Third bridges?

Well I thought it was funny

[Halmyre]

clunkbox said:

The Arran boat takes 110 cars. The Islay boat can take 85. The fancy new Lewis boat takes 143, the old one 114. The boat that does the Hebredies from Uig takes 54. Calmac could maybe spare one I guess? That is one to three coaches worth of people, and the waiting, loading and unloading time would put the journey times not that far off the detour.

Also, all the big boats are designed to use linkspans, not ramps. I think the largest ramp loading ferry only takes about 40 cars.

Then there's the access problems to the ramps at North and South Queensferry...

[BuzzBravado]

AmiableChimp said:

Zipwires!

I'd like that. Same with the credit card advert with the guy going to work in a flume.

[jamieduff1981]

haggishunter said:

Surprisingly enough companies don't keep million pound vessels lying around doing nothing so there is no spare boat.

It would be a pretty p***-poor business model for the ferry operator to own and maintain a vessel and crew they didn't need

[jamieduff1981]

jith said:

Hilts said:

jith said:

Y'know considering the Scots reputation for inventiveness I find it difficult to understand this nonsense about the Bridge.

They just close it and sit back and watch the ensuing chaos. Why can't they pinch a ferry from Calmac or any of the other operators and run it back and Forth, ( pardon the pun) the way the used to before they built the damn bridge? This system might have been slow, but it was helluva reliable; and if the ferry breaks down you just put another one on.

There are hundreds of these things all over Scotland, they must be able to requisition one or two from somewhere.

J

This is a great idea if your car is one of the say 30000 that make it on to a circa 120 car ferry.

OK bright spark; you come up with a better idea. Or perhaps you prefer to sit on your arse and do nothing, just like the authorities.

J

You do realise that people with some intelligence are in the middle of engineering and fabricating steel to effect proper repairs to the bridge, right? They're not just unpatriotic layabouts standing around with their hands in their pockets, shrugging shoulders at the broken bridge.

The best idea is to let the engineers fix the bridge - and that's exactly what they're doing. For the scaffolders, platers, welders and engineers designing the repair and signing off on the repaired bridge to certify it safe Christmas is well and truely cancelled.

The thanks they get for dumping their families to work from an abseiling rope at height over a bloody river in December is some genius accusing them of doing nothing from behind his keyboard.

[Halmyre]

jamieduff1981 said:

haggishunter said:

Surprisingly enough companies don't keep million pound vessels lying around doing nothing so there is no spare boat.

It would be a pretty p***-poor business model for the ferry operator to own and maintain a vessel and crew they didn't need

I believe the MV Glenachulish is currently laid up for the winter, perhaps she could be pressed into service.