Hovercrafts sound a bit like things of science-fiction, vehicles held up by a large air cushion that allows them to glide along land and water – but even though you may not see them often, hovercrafts are very much real. Now, plans are being laid out to bring a public hovercraft service to Edinburgh.
This isn’t the first time that the idea has been floated for the Scottish capital. Hovercrafts in Edinburgh have actually been trialled once before. In 2007, Stagecoach ran a 12-day pilot scheme offering a hovercraft ride between Kirkcaldy and Portobello. The trip took 18 minutes and cost £3.50 for a return ticket. Planning permission for the project was dropped in 2011 following concerns over public funding.
Fourteen years later, Fife Council has started a feasibility study into bringing the amphibious vessel back. In a council meeting last week, it said: ‘We are keen to re-explore the exciting possibility of a cross Forth vessel connecting Fife and Edinburgh.
‘We ran some workshops last week to review the evidence from the previous study and the pilot that was done in 2008/9, looking at what has changed since then. We’ll be discussing the findings and any potential plans at a future meeting of the area committee.’
The findings of the study are expected to come back within the next couple of months and will be presented to Edinburgh Council’s transport committee. If the hovercraft were to happen, it would follow in the footsteps of the Isle of Wight hovercraft service, which right now is the world’s only year-round timetabled passenger hovercraft service.
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