Jura Passenger Ferry Under Threat
Back in January I wrote that the Jura Passenger Ferry service between Tayvallich and Craighouse Jura, on a trial basis for three years, was rewarded a gold medal at the annual Argyll & Bute Excellence Awards in the ‘Vibrant Communities’ category. When the ferry started its services around easter time everything seemed to be fine but a couple of months later, in June, I received an email from someone at Argyll and Bute council telling me the passenger numbers were down and they were looking for ways to bring it to the attention of the people. I decided to write a promotional article on my Islay Blog.
The article wasn’t just positive but it contained a lot of scepticism too. Why, you might wonder? Let me quote a paragraph: “The passenger ferry, which runs from Craighouse to Tayvallich, is strangely enough not getting enough passengers at the moment. This has something to do with the fact that a lot of people aren’t aware that there is a ferry serving Jura from the mainland Scotland. And perhaps it has something to do with the fares as well, after all a return trip for an adult is £35 which is almost twice the price for a return ticket on the Kennacraig to Islay ferry, which is £17.60.” Now I’m not in a position to say I told you so but in my humble opinion these fares are way too high and they are most likely the cause for people to NOT take the ferry to Jura and go somewhere else instead. It doesn’t come as a surprise that the Oban Times has an article about the ferry service in which they mention that the ferry service is under threat. A quote from the Oban Times article:
A Lack of passengers is threatening the award-winning passenger ferry service between Jura and Tayvallich. Argyll and Bute Council agreed to subsidise a three-year pilot scheme but the subsidy alone may not be enough to keep the service going, as it comes to the end of its second season. And ferry operator Jura Development Trust is already trying to find an alternative means of funding, should council funding cease when the pilot scheme ends. Dick Mayes, former chairman of Initiative at the Edge, the group that established the ferry service, says the future of the service is uncertain.
He added: ‘The number of passengers using the ferry is not as high as we expected it to be, so the amount of money coming in is not enough to run a service six days per week, from Easter to the end of September. ‘After next year we really don’t know where the money is going to come from so we will need to assess that with the council and other organisations.’
Maybe they should try to get funding directly from the government and get them to cover for the losses, that’s what the government is doing already for many years with Calmac so why not do the same with this very much needed ferry service.
As you say, Ron, this is unwelcome news but not unexpected. The fares on the passenger ferry have always been on the high side, ever since it started a couple of years ago. But the big mistake, surely, was putting the single fare up from £15 in 2008 to £17.50 this year. That’s a whacking 17% increase, at a time when general inflation is running at less than 2%. No wonder people are voting with their feet!
Obviously with A&BC planning huge budget cuts this is no time to be seeking a bigger subsidy! But now that the service has run for a couple of years, it should be possible to do some targeted discountiing of tickets on certain journeys – the days and times which have proved to be less popular up to now. This should help to fill some empty seats and may enable the service to continue in the future.
That seems like a good idea Dave but I also think they should do a bit more than that. The passenger ferry should be part of, and much more integrated in the public transport network. I received an email last weekend from a reader who asked me if I knew people who used the Jura passenger ferry to travel to Islay. I don’t know of any do you?
I think the Jura passenger ferry could be a good alternative for people who travel to Islay, specially when they come from Oban or even Glasgow. Obviously they would need public transport from Craighouse to Feolin but that shouldn’t be too hard to arrange? It could save people a couple of hours travelling time and it would certainly fill those empty seats on the ferry.
All that’s required is publicity. I found out that a lot of people aren’t aware of this new ferry service and therefore don’t use it. And yes, they should have never raised the fares but lowered them instead to a maximum of £12 or so for a single fare or even less. With the current fares you don’t want to make a daytrip to Jura with a family of four staying in Kintyre but you go to Gigha instead which is £2.95 for a single trip. A daytrip to Jura for them is £140 and a daytrip to Gigha with that same family of four is £23.60. How about that?
That all makes sense Ron. The service is very well integrated with buses at the mainland end, with good timetabled connections to Lochgilphead and Oban. But not on the Jura side. Maybe someone on the island could have a word in Alex D’s ear?
One of the problems the Ferry faces is in essence its running costs.The type of stern drives that the Ferry runs, consume up tops about 5 gallons an hour per engine, so if it takes an hour to go to Tayvallich, and an hour back, allowing for pushing into a bit of bad weather etc, the rib might burn 20 gallons about 90 ltrs of diesel per round trip, at a pound a litre thats 90 pounds, never mind other costs, over heads, repaying the boat, engine maintainance, servicing, insurance, and of course wages.
I am amazed they are able to do it for the price that they are.If we want the luxury of taking a direct Ferry, with limited seating , fast and only 11m long, then unfortunately it has to be paid for, and if people do decide not to use it , it may cease to operate, and I suppose which is worse, No Ferry, or one which costs a little more
The ferry is subsidised by A&BC, which is why it can be done at this price. But even so, it looks as though the price is proving a turn-off for some potential users. The only solutions would seem to be increasing the subisdy (ho-ho!), or selling more seats.