Life before the Tay Road Bridge: Journeys across the river aboard the Fifies The Scotscraig crosses the River Tay. Sign up for our newsletter and let our nostalgia team take you on a trip back in time Thank you for signing up to our Nostalgia newsletter. Something went wrong - please try again later. Sign Up Almost 55 years ago the death knell rang on the Tay Ferries, or The Fifies as they were more affectionately known, which transported Dundonians across the Tay for 145 years. Locals used the ferry boats as one of the main modes of transport to escape to the countryside of Fife with crossings scheduled up to 11 times a day. Before the regular trips were introduced in 1821 the only way of crossing was to, hopefully, negotiate a fair price with one of the many boats at the harbour who offered unregulated passenger-only services.