Oh buoy, Condor publishes better timetable

Monday 10 October 2016

Condor has published a new timetable for next year, featuring more evening crossings.

Crossings taking place after 17:00 - a preferred timing for many of the Island’s working population - have increased from Jersey to Guernsey and St Malo, with six more evening sailings in October 2017 than listed for the previous year.

Tourists will also be able to benefit from the more frequent timetable from Jersey to the French coastal town over the summer months, when the ferry operator will offer crossings twice daily throughout the entire month of August, and six days a week in June and July.

Condor Ferries’ Executive Director of Commercial, Alicia Andrews, commented: “We have listened to customer’s feedback about the schedules offered in recent years - in particular about travel inter island. Our goal for 2017 is to grow passenger numbers travelling by sea and so the schedule is designed to support continued service improvement on the Northern route, and in the South makes significant improvements to the inter-island schedule as well as providing frequent travel opportunities from Guernsey and Jersey to France.

“This new schedule reaffirms our commitment to supporting life in the Islands and complies with the service requirements required by the States under our permits.”

The news comes following what the Jersey Consumer Council has described as “open and constructive” discussions with Condor’s Senior Management Team.

The Council set up a special Condor group earlier this year to address customer concerns over Condor’s timetabling, fare structures and the well-documented difficulties with the company’s £50 million Liberation vessel.

Anne King, Executive officer of the Jersey Consumer Council, described the initiative as “positive-minded, independent [and] collaborative” for opening up “a constructive face-to face dialogue between both parties.”