Comment posted Please respond to the A83 Petition today by ferryman.
If I want to get to Campbeltown I get the ferry from Portavadie to Tarbert. Its not my fault if Newsroom has blinkered vision and cannot see beyond roads.
ferryman also commented
- RW: no you don’t understand basic economics. The WF route carries far higher traffic volumes and has economies of scale not available on the Tarbert route.
- I just like competition, then I don’t need to worry.
You are correct that the prices on the old streaker service were comparable with WF. But the streakers went further, with more crew, using old inefficient vessels, silly shore ticketing arrangements and a ridiculous timetable – yet the vehicle portion still turned a profit i.e. WF must have been turning a good profit.
- Newsroom (aka soapbox) wrote : ” the lack of safe crossing points at Ardrishaig and Tarbert”.
Are you suggesting there is an unsafe ferry crossing operating at Tarbert?
Recent comments by ferryman
- Argyll Flyer in Ardmaleish boatyard
Will the current linkspan works be completed by Friday 21/June?Working on the linkspan while the Argyll Flyer was having its recent scheduled maintenance would have made sense, but they did not do it.
Bring forward maintenance on the Argyll Flyer by a minimum of 6 months and more than likely 8-9 months seems odd.
Why are they not waiting till September to work on the Argyll Flyer. That is closer to when she is due her maintenance and I hear the Gourock linkspan will be out of action again then?
- Shetland Line remains in legal contention with Scottish Government on Northlink Ferries tender
Regarding the Dunoon Gourock ferry service one of the ‘needs and requirements’ the Scottish Government failed to specify was that the vessels employed could actually operate reliably in the weather on the Firth of Clyde.How incompetent is that!
- Argyll Flyer spotted going into Ardmaleish yard on Bute this afternoon
The Ali Cat was having technical problems whilst the Argyll Flyer was being maintained recently, resulting in periods of no service.
Following its maintenance the Argyll Flyer was indeed continuing to suffer technical problems.
The linkspan at Gourock is now being serviced with the result that the Argyll ferries is, once again running a reduced service. This happened right through the Dunoon Film Festival.
It is beyond belief that the Argyll Flyer maintenance and the repairs to the linkspan should not have been planned to run concurrently and without clashing with the Film Festival. - Scottish Government forced to intervene on loose-mouthed Russell gaffe in Campbeltown
JimB asked “why does Dunoon not set out to attract day trippers?”Dunoon would make an excellent destination for people from Glasgow seeking both Day Tripper and Weekend Breaks.
Why don’t they come though?
Well they certainly won’t drive the long way round, it is too far. There are plenty of other attractive destinations that are closer to home.
A relatively short drive and the pleasant experience of a ferry crossing to the town ought to be attractive, but then we hit the price barrier – £44.50 for a young family of 4 in a car.
Why would people pay that premium to come to Dunoon when they can go elsewhere?
The passenger only service is unattractive because of its unreliability.
What Dunoon needs is a truly competing vehicle ferry services.
- Reminder: Argyll Ferries on ‘refit’ service schedule
The scottish Government has failed to deliver on the transferable ferry tickets it was going to setup. The bus scheme is a bodge that adds anything upto two hours to travel time.Any news on what they are going to do for Cowal Games or are they just going to try another gamble on the weather.
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Newsroom (aka soapbox) wrote : ” the lack of safe crossing points at Ardrishaig and Tarbert”.
Are you suggesting there is an unsafe ferry crossing operating at Tarbert?
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Ferryman you must be the only person in the world that – when reading about road crossing points – thinks of a ferry.
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If I want to get to Campbeltown I get the ferry from Portavadie to Tarbert. Its not my fault if Newsroom has blinkered vision and cannot see beyond roads.
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I’m surprised that you don’t drive around, on principle, if you think that WF is a ripoff, as Calmac’s charges seem remarkably similar, or is it that you don’t think of Calmac as profiting from your money?
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I just like competition, then I don’t need to worry.
You are correct that the prices on the old streaker service were comparable with WF. But the streakers went further, with more crew, using old inefficient vessels, silly shore ticketing arrangements and a ridiculous timetable – yet the vehicle portion still turned a profit i.e. WF must have been turning a good profit.
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You misunderstand – the prices you pay on the Tarbert – Portavadie route are comparable to those on WF’s route, for a similar distance.
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RW: no you don’t understand basic economics. The WF route carries far higher traffic volumes and has economies of scale not available on the Tarbert route.
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A fair point, Ferryman, but I still think that your habit of endlessly referring to WF’s profits rather than their charges or fares suggests an excessive degree of resentment just because they’re a private company, rather than because of their charges.
The comments made by others about widespread reluctance among ferry operators to publish commercial vehicle rates surprises me, as I would have thought that in this day & age of European regulation there’d be laws insisting on more transparency – unless there was competition that might argue for commercial confidentiality.
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The only way to decide what the fare should be is to look at the level of profit. If the profit level is fair then you cannot really grumble about the fare, however high it is.
That is why you cannot directly compare WF with the Portavadie Tarbert route.
Also whilst dropping fares on WF route would stimulate increased traffic that is less true on Portavadie Tarbert.
High volume low cost ferries is what Dunoon and Cowal need but there is no hope of reduced fares when WF cannot cope with the current demand.
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Your right, given the longer crossing and the additional costs, the fares should have been higher.
Whoops does that mean that the vehcile fares were being kept down by subsidy payments.
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Donald McDonald:
No the certified accounts of the Cowal Ferries (and the earlier review by the EU) showed the vehicle portion made a profit.
So the question is were WF making an excessive profit?
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