please empty your brain below

These people need to be sent to Venice to see how to do water buses. It's a pretty slick operation. Expensive though, their equivalent of a day travelcard was around £20.00, I guess water transport will always be more expensive than land transport.

Diamond Geezer back at his best! Keep it up, buddy!

Actually one of the industrial sites on the east bank of the Limehouse Cut has recently parked about a dozen tanks, missile launchers, etc on the bank opposite the tow path. It's near the place where the black special-forces-style RIBs are stacked up.
So the view is more interesting than it used to be, and depending on what they're planning to use their armoured fleet for, it might get more interesting still...

'kinell and I thought the Clippers were bad for price.

Ouch! Cashing in on the Olympics to make a fast buck.

They're going to struggle to construct any sort of meaningful "stop" at Tottenham Hale as there is not much space and it's a cobbled ramp down to the towpath. This is also shared with cyclists. If they have to close the path during construction then that is going to be very unpopular with people who commute or otherwise use the towpath / cyclepath. I also don't see how they can conduct a 40 minute ticket / security check given the lack of shelter and space.

The proposed location is also awkward to find from the station - strangers arriving at the station by rail have enough problem working out where the bus to IKEA leaves from while buses towards Wood Green are an eternal mystery. Someone could be employed full time simply to point people to the right stops. Finding this landing stage is probably a quest too far!

At least they are south of the locks at T Hale which removes one source of delay. I certainly would not pay £20 to move at a snail's pace to almost reach the Olympic Site. Methinks NXEA from T Hale station direct to Stratford in 12 minutes is the better option (provided the hourly train isn't cancelled!). It's a shame as the basic idea is quite good but the proposed execution seems ropey.

Excellent report DG.
None of this makes sense, as DG has reported.
The capital investment to build 26 of these waterbuses must be massive. Add in all modern safety and legal requirements and what for...a two week event after which no one will ever use them again. Is this some sort of tax dodge because as a business venture it is doomed to fail. There is no way this will ever make a profit let alone continue after 2012.
Who in their right mind is going to pay a ridiculous £20.00 for a one way trip?
You can write the headlines now for post 2012.
DG, please do some more digging on this story.


I would doubt whether there are even enough Boatmaster qualified skippers to steer these boats - and that's not something you can get in a hurry.

Now is perhaps the time for the London Assembly Transport Committee and or TfL to call the operators in for a chat.

Having asked a mariner friend of mine about the issue with the speed limit, it's possible that the water chariots have been given special dispensation if their hulls are designed specifically to cause a less severe wake at the speed they'll be operating.











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