Tender plan to test the water for cross-Forth ferry service

Published on Tuesday 17 November 2009 21:24

A NEW public transport service across the Firth of Forth is to be put out to tender.

Council leaders in Fife and Edinburgh have agreed to start moves that could see a ferry or hovercraft up and running.

A report by consultants has found that a ferry service between Burntisland, in Fife, and Granton, in north Edinburgh, is likely to be the most viable. The half-hourly service mooted could take just 11 minutes, but would need some 4.6 million worth of infrastructure improvements carried out in the two harbours.

Other options include an alternative ferry route linking Burntisland and Leith Docks or a hovercraft service between Kirkcaldy and Portobello, the latter of which has been mooted by transport giant Stagecoach.

The firm ran a two-week trial from Kirkcaldy to Portobello using a hovercraft in July 2007. However, the consultants insist this is not the most viable option for the crossing.

A new Edinburgh City Council report said officials were undecided on which project to pursue and that all are likely to need a "substantial ongoing public subsidy" even once infrastructure improvements, which are also expected to require funding from the councils, are in place.

A ferry operated between Burntisland and Granton in the early 1990s, but stopped due to dwindling passenger numbers.

The Spirit of Fife catamaran carried 99,000 passengers in its first year in 1991, but this fell away to under 60,000 by 1993 and the service was no longer viable.

Gordon Mackenzie, Edinburgh Council's transport leader, said there now appeared to be a strong business case for a Forth crossing service.