An extra sailing could be added to the Kilcreggan to Gourock ferry service’s Sunday timetable.
The news comes after a warning by Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) that passengers should ‘use or lose’ the summer-only service.
The low number of people using the Sunday service was blamed partly on the limited timetable, which sees only three return sailings.
Harry Cathcart of the ferry users group pointed out that ‘a family day out has to be telescoped into four hours’.
Now Argyll and Bute councilor Maurice Corry has stepped in and asked SPT to consider an additional sailing at 10am on Sundays – currently the first boat leaves Kilcreggan at 12.40.
It is expected that this will be discussed at the next meeting of SPT’s operations committee – but that is not until August 16.
Meanwhile, after the lack of publicity for the route was also highlighted SPT has started advertising the Sunday service on the Helensburgh Advertiser’s website.
The Sunday service is run by Clyde Marine Motoring, but from Monday to Saturday the route is covered by Clydelink; tickets bought from one company are not valid for the other.
© The Lochside Press
Ten a.m.’s much better! But how long will it take for them to actually add the 10 a.m. sailing to the timetable? Will we have to wait till next summer? Also, too, with all the cruise ships calling at Greenock now during the summer season, has anything been done publicity/tourism-wise to let cruise passengers know about the Gourock ferry? As in, take a boat trip on the clyde for less than a fiver … And the presence of all these tourists in Greenock in the summer would be a good incentive to reinstate the Gourock-H’burgh ferry during the summer months, and also publicise the Waverley trips from H’burgh and Kilcreggan. It’s not rocket science: these people are on cruise ships, in the vicinity of the LAST ocean-going paddle steamer IN THE WORLD. The tourists on these cruise ships are given the option of going on coach trips to Edinburgh, Glasgow, and yes, even H’burgh to Hill House, but these trips are add-ons to the cruise, and very expensive. We lost the G’rock-H’burgh route not only because of lack of locals’ use, but because it wasn’t marketed/promoted for all its inherent value as a tourist activity. Argyll and Bute should have a rethink.