The ups and downs of island travel
PERHAPS it was said tongue-in-cheek but the new president of Economic Development’s suggestion that sports teams persuade Jersey sides to play all inter-insulars here will not have gone down well in either island.
Despite being at the top of most politicians’ agenda for much of this decade, transport links remain a concern, whether that be inter-island ferries, flights to the UK or French connections.
Brief periods of optimism, with airy promises of determined action to come, are all too often followed by a cold blast of realpolitik.
The inter-island ferry link, for example, started as a government investigation into subsidising the route for the good of both islands. It has finished, once again, in disappointment as the chosen operator, Manche Iles, is not beholden to the States of either island.
With no subsidy, the number of sailings and their timings, particularly for Guernsey day trips to Jersey, falls far short of what islanders hoped for.
Last week in the States, Deputy Charles Parkinson threw another bucket of sea water over any thoughts that a public-private partnership was the answer. ‘My committee are not willing to invest significant public money into increasing the number of Guernsey to Jersey day trips.’
The case was weak, he said, and Economic Development had to prioritise the economy above social benefit.
Which leaves ferry travel as the unloved Cinderella of island politics: a vital service that islanders rely on but which fails to satisfy anyone.
Into that marketplace comes Waves, complete with its air transport licence after a painful application process that brought little credit on the Transport Licensing Authority.
Quite why the authority needed to be jolted into action by a threatened court case by a rival airline will probably never be known. Despite conciliatory words on Friday, the months of indecision that followed will have left bad feeling on all sides.
Waves says it is not there to take business from other operators, rather to encourage back the 100,000 inter-island passengers who have gone missing in the past decade.
Islanders hoping a new, subsidised, inter-island sea service would be the answer will now be looking to the skies.