A Hovercraft Taxi For Swansea Bay 🛥️

Good morning, Swansea!

This week, read about the time a local businessman proposed a revolutionary solution to Swansea’s traffic woes - a hovercraft taxi across Swansea Bay.

Catch you on Sunday!

Andrew.

Stuck in another endless queue of traffic along Mumbles Road, you might find yourself dreaming of alternatives. Helicopter? E-scooter? Railway? Or perhaps… gliding above the sand and waves of Swansea Bay with the wind in your hair and the city skyline ahead.

Back in 1988, this wasn't just a commuter's daydream – it was very nearly reality.

The vision came from former Mumbles lifeboat man Bill Clement. In April 1988, he proposed a revolutionary transport solution for the bay: a hovercraft service.

His initial plan, dubbed "Mumbles Water Taxis," would see a 16-passenger craft shuttling between the slip opposite the Pilot Hotel in Mumbles and Swansea Marina, with a journey time of just 10 minutes – a fraction of the car journey time along the congested Mumbles Road.

"The hovercraft is much better [than a boat] because it's not governed by the tide," Clement told the Evening Post. His ambitious plans included a £2 single fare, with tickets to be sold at the Mumbles Tourist Information Centre and onboard the craft itself. The 36-foot vessel would initially serve the Marina, with hopes to add a stop at the planned Holiday Inn hotel.

By September that year, the proposal had evolved significantly. Clement was working with Swansea businessman George Jowett and Hover Services (Swansea) Ltd on an expanded vision that would see a British-built Griffon 1500 hovercraft operating between Porthcawl, Swansea Marina and Mumbles.

"It would be based and maintained in Swansea but I think the service would also be of enormous benefit to Ogwr," Jowett told the Post. "As far as we know it's the first service of its kind and there is a very large potential as far as tourism is concerned."

The Evening Post itself backed the idea. In an editorial titled "Less bovver across the Bay?" the paper argued that "after the initial grins, this hovercraft idea could well take off." While acknowledging the limited passenger capacity might prevent it from becoming a main commuter service, they concluded that "those hovercraft could be high-fliers."

Local authorities seemed convinced too. Both Swansea City Council and Ogwr Borough Council supported the scheme in principle, with the latter setting up a three-man sub-committee to investigate further.

Yet, like many bold transport visions, the hovercraft service never materialised.

While Wales had already proven such services could work - Rhyl had launched the world's first passenger hovercraft service in 1962, carrying 24 passengers across to Moreton beach in Merseyside - Swansea Bay's dreams remained just that. Saying that, the Rhyl service lasted only a few months before being defeated by the harsh Irish Sea weather, so maybe wasn’t a great idea after all.

The closest Billy Clement’s vision would come to fruition would be the racing championships held at Margam Park during the 1990s.

There is a hovercraft service in Swansea today, but it’s not for the public. The Loughor Inshore Lifeboat's rescue craft, launched in 2022, serves a vital role crossing the treacherous sandbanks of the estuary during rescue missions.

Meanwhile, the daily crawl along Mumbles Road continues, leaving commuters to wonder what might have been.

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Andrew