SUNDAY Ferry Service Saved

Saturday, 21 January 2012 |

A SUMMER Sunday service will run on a Clyde ferry route this year, Strathclyde transport authority decided.

The new contract for the Gourock to Kilcreggan service was set to miss out Sunday sailings but Inverclyde Councillor David Wilson moved an amendment which was approved by Strathclyde Partnership for Transport’s operations committee.

The service will however no longer do journeys to and from Helensburgh because of low passenger numbers. The subsidy on the Helensburgh section would have been £20 per passenger.

The new contract – from 1 April -- has gone to Clydelink Ltd, replacing Greenock-based Clyde Marine who have operated the route for many years and commissioned a new boat – Seabus – in 2007 specifcally for the Kilcreggan service.

Clydelink will use a new 60-seat vessel. The five-year subsidised ferry service between Gourock and Kilcreggan will cost £874,750, providing an annual saving of about £194,000 a year compared with current costs.

The Sunday service will run from April to October this year.

Strathclyde Partnership for Transport chairman Jonathan Findlay said: “SPT is delighted that we have been able to secure the future of the Gourock to Kilcreggan ferry service for its passengers, and in so doing maintain this important transport link.

"It's regrettable that we could not maintain the link to Helensburgh. With passengers on that route representing only 7 per cent of the total and the subsidy cost per head being £20, it was simply unsustainable. We've made clear, however, that we're keen to engage with Argyll and Bute Council and all interested parties to try to come up with a way forward in the interest of local residents.

"We've also taken a decision to continue the Sunday service between Gourock and Kilcreggan during the 2012 summer period, in an effort to both assess its longer-term viability and hopefully encourage greater use of it."