Crazy Transit Pitches

[F-Line to Dudley]

This isn't really a "crazy transit pitch" as much as "figuring out why a crazy transit pitch won't work", but: there are ferries which carry automobiles. Could there be ferries that carry light rail cars?

Not a new idea. Unless you have any aims at them staying plugged into a 600V DC power source while over the water.

 

[TheRatmeister]

This isn't really a "crazy transit pitch" as much as "figuring out why a crazy transit pitch won't work", but: there are ferries which carry automobiles. Could there be ferries that carry light rail cars?

There could be, sure. You'd either want small batteries for loading/unloading or overhead lines that can be energized when the ferry is docked for power. But ferries are surprisingly expensive to operate (not to mention slow) and so unless you could use a cable or electric ferry, a bridge/tunnel would probably end up paying for itself within 20 years or so. That's why the Faroe Islands built massive tunnels for a couple thousand people. (Although they had the benefit of non-English speaking infrastructure costs.)

 

[Riverside]

Not a new idea. Unless you have any aims at them staying plugged into a 600V DC power source while over the water.

Yeah, I've read the Wikipedia. Most of the examples seemed to be much more "heavyweight", for longer haul journeys across the water. I was thinking about something like this:

Allow passengers to (e.g.) board an LRT at South Station, which rolls on to a ferry in the Seaport (passengers remaining onboard), pops across the harbor, and rolls off before running directly to the airport terminals.

Obviously, the only way this could work is if the "roll on roll off" process is sufficiently speedy. And the point about live power is well-made.

 

[F-Line to Dudley]

Yeah, I've read the Wikipedia. Most of the examples seemed to be much more "heavyweight", for longer haul journeys across the water. I was thinking about something like this:

View attachment 56565

Allow passengers to (e.g.) board an LRT at South Station, which rolls on to a ferry in the Seaport (passengers remaining onboard), pops across the harbor, and rolls off before running directly to the airport terminals.

Obviously, the only way this could work is if the "roll on roll off" process is sufficiently speedy. And the point about live power is well-made.

With how cumbersome the loading/unloading is, you'd honestly make the trip faster doing a Seaport-Green Line-Urban Ring-Terminals trip the long way around via Everett-Chelsea.


EDIT: Plus the headways. What's the best you could do with a ferry that had to gingerly load/unload cars...like 20 minutes per direction? That's not going to draw ridership.

 

[Riverside]

There could be, sure. You'd either want small batteries for loading/unloading or overhead lines that can be energized when the ferry is docked for power. But ferries are surprisingly expensive to operate (not to mention slow) and so unless you could use a cable or electric ferry, a bridge/tunnel would probably end up paying for itself within 20 years or so. That's why the Faroe Islands built massive tunnels for a couple thousand people. (Although they had the benefit of non-English speaking infrastructure costs.)

Wow, yeah. Consider my mind changed.

(Idk if he's making videos much anymore, but those tunnels sound like prime Tom Scott material.)