| # | Comments |
|---|---|
| 2751 | Red Funnels, new pricing structure, SMART/FLEXIBLE/PREMIUM is ludicrously expensive and something has to be done immediately. Why would anyone want 20% off their food when they hike the prices up to cover the discounts - Evil company - What goes around will indeed come around - NO NED FOR GREED |
| 2752 | High cost of travel is preventing people from visiting friends and family in mainland vice versa. Isle of Wight is part of the UK and should not be secluded due to high cost of travel. |
| 2753 | Got to be the most expensive stretch of water in the world - not just great britain. Greed is rampant in this case. |
| 2754 | Criminal pricing. Get back to honesty |
| 2755 | The ferry prices particularly for Isle of Wight residents are absoutely and disgustingly high. The ferry companies should be ashamed of themselves. |
| 2756 | I think it is a rip off that us isle of wight residents have to pay high prices to get off the island. We are not tourists and there is no money to be made from us. All we ask for is a hoiday like the rest of the mainlanders, they have a choice whether they come here or not, we have no other choice but to get on a ferry to get to our holiday destinations. And even then we have to scout for a better holiday deal to justify the rising ferry costs and lack of offers only open to island residents ( which there never are !!!!). |
| 2757 | |
| 2758 | |
| 2759 | I have just gotten on a job on the Isle of wight but will now be fighting to get a transfer back to the mainland as soon as possible, why because of the ferry prices |
| 2760 | I went to Yorkshire on holiday and I paid half fare on the coach as I am disabled I asked if I could have a consession for disability onthe cat from Ryde To Portsmouth. and return I was told that there is'nt any such scheme availble I paid £17.00 period return which was nearly as much as the fare from Portsmouth to Yorkshire.People on the island on low incomes just can't afford to go moff the Island. abd what are they thinking of we are a holiday resort, but people go abroard for chaper than they would pay to come to the Island |
| 2761 | am a regular user of red jet and car ferry. car ferry leaflet out today dores not contain prices. you can only find them by booking online. so no committment to any fare for the duration of 2008 and no at-a-glance system for seeing low, mid and high season fares with variations due to sailing times. i think red funnel are being crafty and will know increase the fares on their website when they like. i have just sent this same email to the OFT, reporting it as a scam. |
| 2762 | The fares are exorbitant and quite out of proportion to the distance travelled or the special costs due to being a relatively short journey. The operators are exploiting their near monopoly. |
| 2763 | My folks have lived on the Island for some time and we visit regularly. Recently however the ferry prices have become horrific. This is definately causing us to visit less and less, not because we don't want to but we simply cannot afford to. |
| 2764 | |
| 2765 | Something needs to be done! They really are taking the xxxxx now |
| 2766 | |
| 2767 | I can't believe how much prices have gone up over the last few years. I visit family on the Island and I can't believe I have to pay £5 for my dog and that's one way! And then I get told he's not allowed a seat! And with the ridiculous price of return tickets! Something needs to be done and soon Red Funnell are just money grabbers and what extra service do we get! The ferry holds more cars but has the same amount of seats! So it is impossible to find one during the summer. It needs to stop! |
| 2768 | Having elderly grandparents on the mainland has made me increasingly frustrated with the price of ferry travel off the island. We are restricted to how many times we can visit them because of of the price. £100 a time is something that we can't afford very often. When one of them became ill recently and we had to visit more frequently we were having to try and arrange different transport, i.e borrowing friends cars so we didn't get stung on the ferry! AND AS FOR THE PRICE OF THE FOOD!!!!! THATS A WHOLE DIFFERENT STORY! It's like the whole island is a prison, as you just can't afford to get off and you held captive! RRRAAAAHHHHH! |
| 2769 | |
| 2770 | |
| 2771 | As a family we used to go over to the IOW for a holiday. However, with the ridiculous price increases of both Red funnel and Wightlink we now spend our holidays elsewhere, our family maybe the minority but how long will it be before other people follow suit? The price increases will effect the Islands tourism in the next few years. With the current climate of the 'Credit Crunch' theres only one way this is going and thats recessiion on the IOW. |
| 2772 | I just booked for next weekend. We're having to pay £18.50 each way Cowes-S'ton...but having to travel at 10PM...otherwise it's twice that price...OUTRAGEOUS !!! Something needs to be done...the Island is being held to hostage. |
| 2773 | I am travelling off the island on Saturday for one night, Red funnel price £71 Wightlink price £43. Guess who I'm using? These prices are ridiculous. I guess Red funnel have to pay for their "modified" boats. I truely hope they lose money from their greed. If I had the money I would buy my own boat alas they keep charging me exhorbitant prices so I can't save up!! |
| 2774 | |
| 2775 | |
| 2776 | |
| 2777 | Of the two i feel Wight link to be by far the worst. A car with 2 adults and 2 children,outward {from island}on friday,return on sunday at the end of June=£140!!!! i could get a week in Spain for that! Red funnel day return ,car and the same 4 people,out of season{so called holiday season should only apply to visitors not residents}was £38 return.Which is quite reasonable,but not available during the holiday season...why not? If they can afford to charge that much out of season,why not in season?More passengers =more money. |
| 2778 | |
| 2779 | We travel as foot passengers on the Red Funnel Hi Speed Jet when visiting my sister on the island. We travel from Yorkshire and it costs nearly as much for the return ferry ticket as it does for our train ticket from Leeds to Southampton. We would visit more often if it wasn't so expensive. |
| 2780 | Furious!!! Wightlink just quoted me £109 for the same period return ticket that Red Funnel can do for £45 approx.How on earth do they get away with it.They are all playing ames with not only our money but our lives.WE are going to be trapped on here!! Perhaps Stelios could start Easyferry here??? |
| 2781 | I too would like to know why Red Funnel is so much cheaper than Wight link, for cars,caravans (sometimes as much as £50 less) and even foot passengers. We have just returned from a holiday in the Outer Hebrides where the ferry fares are quite expensive, however the Scottish parliament is about to bring in RET (Road Equivalent Tarriff). Of course this is a vote winner in Scotland where so many people need to travel from island to island., but just dream for a minute how much it costs to drive 6 miles even in a very uneco friendly car and charged at company mileage and wahat that would do to the ferry fares. Come on Mr Turner think how much we would benefit here!!!. |
| 2782 | why do all routes cost the same? |
| 2783 | |
| 2784 | Apalling prices. £92 Return in Sep, last Sept we only paid £60. Which even then was well overpriced. |
| 2785 | I travel to the IoW with my car every month to see my 87 year old Mother. The car is necessary as she is disabled. The Wightlink car ferry costs keep getting higher. Having just gone into winter fares for 2008 I have just had to pay £82 for an off-peak 3 day return! |
| 2786 | None of my mainland friends will visit the island because it costs too much to use the car ferries, and despite being prepared to spend money on local attractions, are bitter about having nowhere to park without paying extortionate parking fees in unsafe parking areas. £180 for a car ferry for one car is too expensive. |
| 2787 | We experienced the exorbitant cost of Ferry travel to the IOW this past week when it cost £89 for my son and his new wife to spend 4 days on the island, The ferry company, even at this price, stipulated a return after 1pm. Booking in advance is not always an option and certainly not a bargain either. This must be THE MOST EXPENSIVE FERRY SERVICE IN THE WORLD. Such a great pity as the island is well worth a visit and the high ferry fares must exclude a great many families. The islanders too must feel isolated and not travel as often as they would like. The new ferries coming into operation are smart but passengers really only need a clean, reasonably priced journey. The old ferries provide neither. Perhaps someone can answer the question WHY does it cost so much ? My family will be reluctant to visit again . |
| 2788 | in times of national or local emergency - control including financial must be in the hands of island residents and those whose health livilihoods depend on cross solent access. The rationale is of a pub;ic transport ethos and requirement not foreign owned profiteering at our expense. |
| 2789 | No where else in the UK would a service such as this (with only two operators) be allowed to exist without special conditions being imposed by the OFT. If the practices are acceptable to the government then perhaps we should be asking for a subsidy for residents. |
| 2790 | We have just recently had to travel to the mainland three times for the day over the last three weeks to help our daughter to move into her new flat. The total ferry cost came to £110.00 and this price was the cheapest we could get. If we mised the ferry we would have also incured an extra rebooking fee although the ferry was not full on any of the trips. The ferry is becoming like a Berlin Wall to the Islanders with family on the other side of the wall (The Solent). |
| 2791 | Wightlink have now cut the 5:30 saling, now no service between 04:00 and 06:00 - I can no longer get to my mainland job on time |
| 2792 | Hooray the 0600 sailing is back on! I can get to work on time!!! Total rip off and bad customer service as ever though. ShiteLink would be a more appropriate name for the whole shambolic company. |
| 2793 | They have got us by the short and curlies. The ferry fare strucrure has become more opaque and harder to decipher. They need to find a way to charge business people more and visitors less, for offpeak travel. |
| 2794 | Last August i had to travel to the Isle of Wight as my brother had died suddenly. Not knowing how long I would be there looking after my 91 year old mother, I was obliged to take a standard ticket at a cost of £115. I have since had to make numerous trips to the island to visit my mother and to try to arrange for the sale of her house. I take the offers where possible but users of Wightlink will be well aware that the prices for standard tickets substantially exceed the Dover-Calais charges. The IoW operators have taken the concept of monopoly to a new level which is little short of piracy. |
| 2795 | |
| 2796 | |
| 2797 | I manage a local Holiday Home company, with over 100 properties across the Island. We deal all the time with unhappy travellers who book holiday homes with us and then cannot believe the price of the ferries when they try to book their travel. I have also had several cases where we have lost bookings because they can go elsewhere in Britain without the extra cost of the ferry travel when they have found out the cost. My daughter had to pay £22 for a weekend as a foot passenger, just to get home. The fares are unfair and totally overpriced. |
| 2798 | Travel to and from the island is becoming more and more impossible to afford. Many residents simply don`t travel because they don`t have the funds. Those who have to travel know they are being ripped off by the ferry companies who have no real competition to force them into charging fairer prices. The island needs tourists but tourists happily go elsewhere when they realise how much of their holiday spending power will have been used up as they sail that expensive stretch of water between the mainland and the island. It is time that the ferry companies were properly investigated and the market opened up to other more competitive companies. |
| 2799 | crazy prices..... just booked 2 adult foot passenger returns, not much difference in price for a car and 4 passengers to travel across" off peak", ........disgusting pricing policy that must hurt the islands economy. |
| 2800 | The ferrys charge ridiculous sevice, poor service, unreliable and poor disability access. I can go to france on a good service for better. |