Market must meet day-trip demand
One of the most frequent complaints you will hear from islanders is about the cost of getting off ‘the rock’. Or if it’s not the cost, it’s the frequency, or reliability of our links that is the focus of debate.
A new entrant into the transport sector will always be welcomed, and so it is with the muted introduction of Islands Unlimited, a foot passenger ferry service which has slowly slipped into the public domain in the past couple of weeks.
The lack of affordable, inter-island day trips is one of the biggest frustrations of islanders in Guernsey, though perhaps not so much in Jersey or Alderney, the three ports of its inter-island route map. So a seasonal service of a 240-passenger vessel sounds exciting to islanders.
However we’ve been here before. The States subsidised a day trip service between Guernsey and Jersey back in 2018, and it wasn’t a success. Dogged by technical problems, Manche Iles Express carried just more than 300 passengers and it cost the States of Guernsey £20,000.
The people behind this new operator Unlimited have exciting plans afoot. But they fairly recognise, and say: ‘For this to succeed, it will need to be used.’
This project cannot just rely on holidaymakers. And sometimes our desire for travel exceeds our budget and time limitations.
If this project does make waves, it’s going to need buy-in from all three markets and particularly, a joined-up approach from sport across the islands, which could be the major beneficiary.