Disintegrated transport

Sir,

Further to the article about the report of the railway passengers missing the boat at Ardrossan, readers might remember the letter from me last month about a fraught journey to Arran in September.

That, too, involved the 15.20 boat and the suggested connecting 14.15 train from Glasgow Central, which arrives 15.06, leaving precisely four minutes for passengers to jump off the train, rush to the Ardrossan ticket office to exchange their railway voucher for a ferry ticket and gallop up the gangway to ensure one is aboard the required 10 minutes before sailing.

Not really possible, especially if one cannot walk very fast or has luggage, but the alternative is catching the earlier train from Glasgow, an hour earlier, and twiddling one's thumbs for the duration.

The more energetic could catch the Largs train just half an hour earlier, if they think they can make their way from South Beach to the ferry in that time.

One might well ask how this mess has come about, where a railway service originally designed to connect with the ferry has been allowed to become such an example of disintegrated public transport?

We also have the ludicrous situation where a Glasgow train leaves the harbour station at 14.45, a matter of minutes before the 14.50 ferry arrival, with the next train an hour later.

CalMac and ScotRail are both owned by the Scottish Government which has the final say and therefore must have approved these recent changes.

Shame upon the Scottish Government for presiding over this shambles, allowing CalMac to walk away from the combined Rail and Sail ticket and doing its best to stop railway stations still selling them.

The government claims to want easier and shorter public transport trips to persuade people to switch from private vehicles but have done the opposite, lengthening the journey by an hour.

Shame, too, upon CalMac for pulling out of the Rail and Sail arrangement, for doing its best to stop railway stations selling combined tickets in the first place and for ordering the ferry to depart early when it can clearly see passengers hurrying from the train. Also for still advising passengers in its timetable that the 14.15 train from Central is a reasonable connection to the 15.20.

Shame also upon Scotrail for prioritising a regular “clockface” timetable above the convenience of the 92,422 passengers who use Ardrossan Harbour station, almost all of whom are bound for the Arran ferry. Apparently ScotRail thought they could get away with this sleight of hand because they had counted on the service being moved to Troon by now. This does not bode well.

One would have thought it would be possible for ScotRail and CalMac to be in contact with each other, providing information about the number of ferry passengers on the train, or if the train is running a few minutes late. If there has to be an exchange of tickets, surely the conductor could do that, avoiding the need to dash into the Ardrossan ticket office?

If CalMac really believes the 14.15 is a reasonable connecting service with the 15.20, I will be happy to meet an official at Glasgow Central in time for the 14.15 and they can see for themselves how practical it is.

I am afraid, though, that despite the rhetoric, the Scottish Government, CalMac and ScotRail clearly do not care about environmentally-friendly foot passengers. At best we are an inconvenience, at worst an irrelevance.

Yours,