Crash tactics, by Peter Roffey

ONE of the most frustrating things about being a States watcher is seeing things taking place that are bound to end in tears but where no one steps in to stop them until the damage has been done.

The current scandal of discriminatory bus fares is a classic case in point. Many warned that this apartheid on the buses was bound to lead to massive ill-feeling and resentment but CT Plus pressed blithely on and the Environment Department actually sanctioned it. A massive failure of political judgement.

A few months on and, unsurprisingly, we see frequent letters in this paper from visitors who are disgruntled with being treated like second-class passengers. No one likes being fleeced just because they are a tourist and anybody who thought this grubby, two-tier charging system wouldn't cause huge upset was deluded.

And now the situation is going to be made much worse. With the requirement to carry an Ormer card to avoid the dreaded £2 fare, the £1 fare will virtually disappear. No one is going to go to the hassle of buying a card but then not bother to load it with discounted journeys. So the new two-tier structure will be 60p for locals with an Ormer card and £2 for tourists and locals without one.

Maybe that would be OK if visitors were allowed to buy cards, as they are with similar systems elsewhere – London, for example – but they are banned from doing so. That means that in future, instead of paying twice the 'local' fare they'll have to pay triple. Surely this madness will eventually have to be rescinded, but sadly only after our reputation has been badly tarnished.

The irony is that the big changes on the buses and the new operator were aimed at saving money and helping to fulfil the FTP. Instead, for the sake of shaving a quarter of a million pounds a year off States spending they've put at risk return tourism business worth many times that.

It's striking that many of those writing letters of complaint are visitors who have been coming here for donkey's years. Just the sort of tourists we need to carefully and lovingly foster.

When will those behind the FTP realise that there is a difference between paying as little as possible and getting value for money? Minor savings which lead to a much poorer product aren't doing the taxpayer any favours, simply getting them a worse deal.

Of course, the criticisms of the new dawn in bus travel go beyond fares. The whole new service, its reliability and the impenetrability of the timetable have all come in for complaints from visitors.

As someone who used to use the buses quite frequently, although not as my main mode of transport, I share all those problems.

I had thought that I was particularly unlucky because all my regular journeys had suddenly been rendered impractical by bus. Either they no longer went where I wanted to go, or they didn't go at the right times. I presumed some other islanders' services had been greatly improved. But tourists go all over this island and they seem to share my frustrations.

I only hope the route changes in the new autumn schedule improve the situation. The frustration is that some of the proposed alterations, such as improved west coast services and linking The Grange/PEH to the airport, are simply reversing changes made in the spring which bus users told CT Plus would be a mistake. Two cheers for eventually listening to the customers, but it would have been nicer if they could have done so earlier. How good the new timetable will be isn't yet clear. Nor is it obvious whether the decline in passenger numbers can be halted. A 1% increase during a gorgeous July compared with last year's horrible summer is hardly impressive.

Going back to my original point on tourist fares, I'm not alone in seeing this train crash happening in slow motion. Many islanders are equally appalled and know that eventually dramatic remedial action will have to be taken. This includes quite a few States members and maybe the odd member of the Environment Department. But everybody seems powerless to bring that day forward. Instead, everybody is simply watching this tragedy unfold, telling each other how dreadful it is and waiting for someone else to do something about it.

How much more damage needs to be done before someone takes ownership of the problem? Deputy Roger Domaille, perhaps?

* Tomorrow: 18 months into their first term, Roffey's take on our 'newbie' ministers.