GLASGOW commuters could soon be able to travel to work in the city on a New York-style waterbus.

GLASGOW commuters could soon be able to travel to work in the city on a New York-style waterbus.

Transport experts have been brought in to see if regular commuter services on the River Clyde are feasible.

The £100,000 study, by MVA Consultancy, has been commissioned by Glasgow City Council on behalf of four other councils.

One expert said the plan could bring Clyde ferries "out of the Victorian era and into the 21st century".

As well as commuter services, the firm will also study ways of introducing modern routes to small Clyde resorts which have declined over the years.

It is hoped these could increase tourists to Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park, Loch Long, Loch Goil and Rothesay.

Project director Neill Birch said: "Our job is to look at the Clyde from Glasgow City Centre to the Inner Firth - towns like Gourock, Dunoon and Kilcreggan.

"We want to look at the potential for running improved or new ferries in that area. The type of service we have now grew up in the 19th century and life has moved on since then.

"Where there was once heavy industry we now have people living - and they will want transport from their homes to their places of work.

"We will be identifying areas where there is enough demand to make a ferry service commercially viable or sufficiently attractive for central and local government funding."

Mr Birch added that there had to be a balance between providing enough stops and a quick journey.

He said Braehead was an obvious stopping point as was Glasgow Harbour, Clydebank, Erskine and parts of Inverclyde.

His company has already looked at similar services in Amsterdam, Sydney, New York, London and Hamburg, where thriving waterbus or water-taxi networks operate.

Mr Birch said: "With congestion and overcrowding on roads and trains, the Clyde seems an obvious traffic corridor.

"We are talking about smaller, faster and more lightweight ferries that would use smaller, easier to build piers and landing areas.

"If we combine a commuter service with something for tourists then we have a product which is attractive for funding.

"We are trying to take a 21st century approach to it all."

The four other local authorities involved are Inverclyde, West Dunbartonshire, Renfrewshire and Argyll and Bute, with an initial report expected by the end of this month.

A Glasgow City Council spokesman said: "There are a number of potential benefits in this - beyond the continued development of the Clydeside.

"These include the improvement of the city's transport infrastructure links and the use of the Clyde Estuary to further develop the tourist industry."