There should be some kind of control over these fares

Saturday 30th January 2010, 2:59PM GMT.

From T Humphries.
I WOULD like to reopen the debate on the cost to Islanders of sea travel to France.

The day excursion offered by Condor for a family of two plus two and a car is £119. Not bad, I suppose. Unfortunately, this fare was unavailable for the February dates we were looking at as these, according to Condor, are ‘peak dates’.

The next fare up is £180, which at £45 per hour spent on French soil seems rather steep to me. If you wonder whether ‘Jersey promotion’ means ‘let’s see how much you can get away with charging’ and try booking two standard crossings, the fare comes to £278 for a day trip.

My discoveries raise several questions:
• If February is a ‘peak date’, how does the company describe August, and what will be considered a reasonable fare for the summer exodus?

• How many of the cheaper car day excursions are available per sailing? The only response I could get from Condor on this was: ‘Any special offer such as the car day excursion is discretionary and is usually subject to availability.’ That sounds like ‘We can charge what we like’ to me.

• Why can’t we have some kind of control on the fares, or competition on the route?
They really do have us over a barrel now. In these days of competition regulation, should there not be pressure to introduce another ferry service and allow Islanders to travel without being subject to such prohibitive fares?

1
Paul

January 30, 2010 at 8:52 pm

I think you will find that our friendly American, ‘Chuck’,is busy destroying our Postal and Telecoms systems at the moment. All in the name of competition.
Maybe he will look at it next year when there are far fewer people left in Jersey.
Don’t hold your breath though.

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2
bridget.m

January 31, 2010 at 9:20 am

And this subject of fares Jersey/ France goes on and on and on, The only way to lower prices is to, Not travel at all, if enough customers avoided traveling for say, one year then charges would drop i´m sure.

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3
Anne

January 31, 2010 at 1:28 pm

Our Finance Minister reckons that lowering of fares can only be achieved by competition. However there is no competition apart from foot passenger services to France during the season and Condor have the profitable vehicle carrying all to themselves.

The final straw for Emeraude, the ferry that had sailed for many years between the islands and France was when Condor gained the ramp licence to carry cars. HD, after a run of bad luck went too. Condor are in a most privileged position and one that they wanted and have the route all to themselves. They have consistently shown that they have little regard for this advantage and the minute competition goes, charge what they want and offer a rubbish winter service.

At present, during the winter months, the service from Jersey to France is limited and day trips, when at all possible, are short. Passengers are unable to get into France until lunch time. There is currently only one special offer for Jersey people going to France, compared to the many offers to people coming from England, who also get much cheaper fares despite the greater distance covered by the boat! The fares, as we all know, are frequently extortionate. The only days a person can make a day trip from France to Jersey are Thursdays and Saturdays, I believe. The offers are mostly accommodation related and the day trip offer expensive.

Sadly, I feel that it is never going to work out with having more than one vehicle carrying ferry on the French route. Is it not time that the States regarded travel to France as a “public service” rather than just a business? How about giving Condor the sole licence with the proviso that they must run a daily service with fare levels that the public can afford and at times suitable for both Jersey and France. As maybe this will not be enough to help them make reasonable, not excessive profits, then the States should maybe subsidise them by reducing the harbour dues. Perhaps to facilitate a daily boat in the winter not charging harbour dues could be considered in order to make this possible. It would surely be better to have foreign tourists coming in for the January sales, the Fête de Noué, visit Craft Fairs and winter markets and to spend money off season than none at all? I am sure local retailers will back this!

Jersey also needs to market itself better in order to get the ferry passengers. As a person, regularly in France, I feel that Jersey is not at all well advertised. I am sure that Tourism will disagree but I do not see much being done to make us known to the average person in France. That could be as simple as adding a flyer from time to time to the sales literature that is delivered weekly to French households. Very few know of the island’s French connection and have a vague knowledge of the island being a finance centre and that is it. In this climate, Jersey needs the money!

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4
Sarf London Lad

February 2, 2010 at 8:18 am

I looked out of my living room window yesterday morning and saw the snow on the ground, the leaden skies and I felt the time had come to cheer myself up with another visit to my favourite Channel Island.

Musing on the idea of a change of route, I remembered that Condor Ferries sail from Portsmouth, Poole and Weymouth to Jersey. Off with the pyjamas and on with the computer!

The dearth of sailings at this time of the year, together the inconvenience of their departure times, has driven me back into the grasping arms of the airlines.

No wonder tourism to Jersey is down.

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5
bella

February 2, 2010 at 12:20 pm

4
Timetable of condor is a big factor why tourists and islanders are put off using this carrier.

In jersey they just fit us in en route from Britain or France.

We should have a direct route to UK and back like we used to for our convenience not theirs.

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