Hovercraft, Portobello to Kirkcaldy

sicker

Great idea but I have heard that should you try to board at Portobello, you can't. You have to go to Ocean Terminal or Edinburgh to get a ticket on the bus to the boarding point. Hope I'm wrong! So a 20 minute journey is increased by the time taken to go to where you can buy a ticket. (30 minutes at a guess)

alanrowell

“There was a slight communication breakdown. We’ve been trying to make sure people from Ocean Terminal and Waverley were getting on, but no one should have been told to travel to Ocean Terminal to get a ticket. It was unfortunate. I’d like to apologise to those who were affected.

http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1114282007

sicker

Allan, link does not appear to work?

Yogibear

link is fine for me,great to see the crowds,you always get the moaners,never happy unless they are moaning mind you that EN rag is only happy when people complain;)

sicker

Yogibear, I hope you do not think my post was a moan. It was meant as a prompt to check where you could board from before making plans. It is not very pleasant for young children looking forward to a day out to be advised tickets are not available at 'Marine Gardens'. All sorted now apparently so bouquets to managment.

Edinburghlass_2

Sounds great to me, I'm looking forward to having a day out in Kirkcaldy next week!

http://www.fifetoday.co.uk/news?articleid=3023594

Fifer

Apparently it's so popular that people are having to wait 3 or 4 hours to get on (at the Kirkcaldy end at any rate). They've abandoned the timetable and are running it as a shuttle to create more capacity. I suppose it's partly the novelty value and partly something to do with th kids on a school holiday, but I suspect and hope that the real underlying demand makes it viable. I think it's a great idea.

Fifer

Here's an update.

*Louise*

I think it's a great idea - when I passed, I saw the queue outside the Lothian bus station...so I thought that was where you would get the tickets since that's where it stops...

My kids are desperate to go on it, but there's no way I'm waiting hours just for a pleasure trip...hopefully it will become a permanent fixture and I can take them when the novelty wears off a bit.:D

Edinburghlass_2

I've tried Googling for info on prices, where you go etc but not having a good deal of success and it seems that at best the info given to people is hazy.

I heard tonight that in fact your ticket price (£4.50 but free for OAP) includes a return bus into Kirkcaldy bus station and a return bus from Waverley/Ocean Terminal to the hoovercraft but can't find anything on the Stagecoach website.

I'm hoping for good weather before I venture on it... :eek:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/6900756.stm

*Louise*

Edinburghlass wrote: »

I've tried Googling for info on prices, where you go etc but not having a good deal of success and it seems that at best the info given to people is hazy.

Here you go:

http://www.stagecoachbus.com/fife/forthfastfares.html

single £5.50 £2.75
return £9.50 £4.75
off-peak return *£4.50 £2.25

For those travelling to the Kirkcaldy Forthfast terminal by bus, tickets are the same price as a single/return bus fare between Fife and Edinburgh. They can be purchased on any connecting Stagecoach bus!

*off-peak returns are valid after 0900 Mon - Fri & all day Sat


Edinburgh megarider, all zone Multiride tickets and National Entitlement Concession cards are also valid on Forthfast.

All fares include a shuttle service between Portobello and Edinburgh city centre (X90) or Ocean Terminal, Leith (X91).

Boarding passes will be issued before departure. These should be retained for the duration of the journey along with bus tickets, if applicable.
Please note that Forthfast tickets can only be purchased on the day of boarding.

Boarding will be on a first come, first served basis.