Wightlink / Island Line connections.

[hermit]

The capacity constraint is actually getting to the island from the mainland - and only 2 of the crossings feed into the railway, the fast cat to pier head and the hovercraft. Both appear to be running at or near capacity, so to suggest if the railway had been running there would have been more visitors is fallacious.

Any evidence that foot passengers wanting to get to the island have been unable to do so because of lack of capacity?

At worst, they might have to wait for the next sailing.

Loadings on my recent crossings on the cat have ranged from nearly full to half-empty.

Wightlink have felt able to persist with their annoying 2-hr gaps in the service mid-morning and mid-afternoon, which doesn’t suggest a service struggling to cope with demand.

 

[DelW]

The capacity constraint is actually getting to the island from the mainland - and only 2 of the crossings feed into the railway, the fast cat to pier head and the hovercraft. Both appear to be running at or near capacity, so to suggest if the railway had been running there would have been more visitors is fallacious.

Any evidence that foot passengers wanting to get to the island have been unable to do so because of lack of capacity? At worst, they might have to wait for the next sailing. Loadings on my recent crossings on the cat have ranged from nearly full to half-empty. Wightlink have felt able to persist with their annoying 2-hr gaps in the service mid-morning and mid-afternoon, which doesn’t suggest a service struggling to cope with demand.

These two statements (in bold) seem to be directly contradictory...

My experience last month was that Wightlink were running a one-boat service at a time of year which (in the past) would have required both, and as hermit notes, with multiple two-hour gaps during the day. Even then, the sailings I used, mid-morning and early evening, were fairly empty. That would suggest that numbers travelling via Portsmouth Harbour and Pier Head were probably no more than a quarter of the pre-Covid norm. Whether that is caused by the absence of the trains, or by Wightlink's unhelpful website statements about reservations being required, or by a general reluctance to use public transport, or something else, is hard to tell. I suppose a combination of all of the above is actually the most likely.

 

[A0]

These two statements (in bold) seem to be directly contradictory...

My experience last month was that Wightlink were running a one-boat service at a time of year which (in the past) would have required both, and as hermit notes, with multiple two-hour gaps during the day. Even then, the sailings I used, mid-morning and early evening, were fairly empty. That would suggest that numbers travelling via Portsmouth Harbour and Pier Head were probably no more than a quarter of the pre-Covid norm. Whether that is caused by the absence of the trains, or by Wightlink's unhelpful website statements about reservations being required, or by a general reluctance to use public transport, or something else, is hard to tell. I suppose a combination of all of the above is actually the most likely.

Slightly OT, but passenger numbers on the Fastcat have clearly been in decline for many years.

The first 'High Speed Crafts' introduced in 1986 had a capacity of ~ 400, these were replaced in ~ 2000 with crafts that had a capacity of ~350. Their replacements introduced in 2009, which are the current crafts have a capacity of 260.

Interestingly the 'Red Jets' between Southampton & Cowes have increased in size.

 

[hermit]

Slightly OT, but passenger numbers on the Fastcat have clearly been in decline for many years.

The first 'High Speed Crafts' introduced in 1986 had a capacity of ~ 400, these were replaced in ~ 2000 with crafts that had a capacity of ~350. Their replacements introduced in 2009, which are the current crafts have a capacity of 260.

Interestingly the 'Red Jets' between Southampton & Cowes have increased in size.

The actual drop in capacity is much greater than this would imply, as Wightlink have reduced the number of sailings eg by cutting out evening services and by running a one-boat service rather than two for most of the time. Of course, it does not follow that passenger numbers have declined by the same proportion - the average loadings on the remaining crossings may have gone up. But there seems little doubt that overall numbers have in fact declined over the years. The downward trend in passenger statistics at Ryde Pierhead station would support this.

 

[DelW]

The actual drop in capacity is much greater than this would imply, as Wightlink have reduced the number of sailings eg by cutting out evening services and by running a one-boat service rather than two for most of the time. Of course, it does not follow that passenger numbers have declined by the same proportion - the average loadings on the remaining crossings may have gone up. But there seems little doubt that overall numbers have in fact declined over the years. The downward trend in passenger statistics at Ryde Pierhead station would support this.

I think I remember that when the current "Wight Ryder" boats were introduced, Wightlink kept one of the earlier yellow cats to cover for maintenance or breakdowns. I don't remember seeing that at the moorings for a while now, so presumably it's been sold, and any breakdowns now would mean a maximum hourly service until fixed?

 

[hermit]

”For a while now” is at least 10 years! Both of the yellow cats were last heard of running out of Sochi on the Black Sea.
For a time Wightlink used to charter in from Solent and Wightline Cruises to provide the second boat crossings when one of the Wight Ryders was out of action for annual maintenance or because of breakdown (much more common in their early days than now). But nowadays they just fall back to a one-boat service.

 

[Gloster]

I don’t think that FastCats Ryde and Shanklin were retained as spares by Wightlink once the Wight Ryders were in service, except possibly for a month or two while the new boats bedded in. They were sold for a service between Ilfracombe and Swansea, although only Shanklin appears to have reached the Bristol Channel. The project fell through and the two boats were probably returned or repossessed, before being sold to Russia a year later.

it is impossible to know the figures, but I am sure that there are people who have intended to come to the island by rail, but once they start looking at the train times decide it is too complicated and use the car or go elsewhere (such are the numbers that somebody else will snap up the hotel/caravan/chalet booking). Others may travel by rail, but next year will choose to go somewhere else as it is all such a hassle.

I haven’t been off the island for over a year, but when making enquiries I have been told that there is usually space on the cats for casual arrivals. The main exceptions are at bank holidays and if the hovercraft is not running.

 

[hermit]

I don’t think that FastCats Ryde and Shanklin were retained as spares by Wightlink once the Wight Ryders were in service, except possibly for a month or two while the new boats bedded in. They were sold for a service between Ilfracombe and Swansea, although only Shanklin appears to have reached the Bristol Channel. The project fell through and the two boats were probably returned or repossessed, before being sold to Russia a year later.

it is impossible to know the figures, but I am sure that there are people who have intended to come to the island by rail, but once they start looking at the train times decide it is too complicated and use the car or go elsewhere (such are the numbers that somebody else will snap up the hotel/caravan/chalet booking). Others may travel by rail, but next year will choose to go somewhere else as it is all such a hassle.

I haven’t been off the island for over a year, but when making enquiries I have been told that there is usually space on the cats for casual arrivals. The main exceptions are at bank holidays and if the hovercraft is not running.

Just to expand on the off-putting factors that face potential rail passengers to the island:

- Wightlink’s heavily publicised insistence that crossings must be booked in advance, and that check-in will close 15 minutes before sailing; neither of these are in fact necessary or enforced except in periods of extreme busyness;

- and the recent application of a 20-minute minimum connection time at Portsmouth Harbour by journey planners, which means that, instead of the traditional c10 minute connection from the London trains, passengers are led to expect a wait of over an hour for the ferry.

 

[DelW]

”For a while now” is at least 10 years! Both of the yellow cats were last heard of running out of Sochi on the Black Sea.

Ha! Thanks. One of the penalties of er, getting on a bit . When I think something was "two or three years ago", it often turns out to be ten years or more. I knew I hadn't seen a yellow one for quite a time, but I couldn't put any sort of date on when the last time was.

 

[kylemore]

Slightly OT, but passenger numbers on the Fastcat have clearly been in decline for many years.

The first 'High Speed Crafts' introduced in 1986 had a capacity of ~ 400, these were replaced in ~ 2000 with crafts that had a capacity of ~350. Their replacements introduced in 2009, which are the current crafts have a capacity of 260.

Interestingly the 'Red Jets' between Southampton & Cowes have increased in size.

And their predecessors could carry 1135!

 

[A0]

And their predecessors could carry 1135!

Quite. Though Wightlink's new car ferries are bigger than their predecessors, which probably gives more insight as to how visitors to the IoW are travelling.