Why don’t the ferries run exactly to time every time?

We aim to run to a target of at least 99% of scheduled crossings in a 12-month period, but sometimes there are circumstances where this is not possible.

On occasions we may run a few minutes late or slightly out of sequence. Various factors that affect our schedules include:

• Shipping movements (see separate section)
• Periods of high demand for the service, especially at peak traffic times when a ferry may leave full rather to an exact time schedule – this is considered to be a preferable compromise to leaving on time but not using the full capacity of a ferry
• Vehicles breaking down onboard and on slipways
• Waiting for emergency vehicles notified to be enroute and travelling under a blue light requirement or departing immediately on their arrival – these situations are referred to as “Fast Crossings”
• New customers who approach more cautiously as they are not familiar with the route to/from and loading/unloading process of the ferry service
• Technical issues
• Environmental conditions that may impact on the time required to cross the river or the need to change the sequenced running order of the ferries in service due to operational requirements

In such circumstances we aim to get back on schedule as soon as we can, but our overriding priority is to keep traffic moving and minimise the wider impact of road network congestion on both sides of the river.