Ferry fares up and journeys cut warning

I just booked a day return for BANK HOLIDAY MONDAY for my neighbour for 2 adults and 2 under 15s, leaving E.Cowes at 07.15 and returning from Southampton late afternoon.
Cost............£30
Extortionate? Don't think so, do you?

@Don Prescott. If in real terms the prices have gone down why then is it that ever year my travel bookings go up. They are altering their prices all the time. Last december I booked for a weekend on the island this coming July, if I was to book the same journey now it would cost me almost twice as much.

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD BUILD A BRIDGE OR TUNNEL!!!

@ Jay "Wightlink keep putting their prices up making it very expensive ".
I am not employed by nor do I have friends in either ferry company, but this is just not true.
In real terms their prices have gone down as I am sure Mr. Green (how appropriate) will confirm.
The problem is that the eco loony tunes EUSSR has issued yet another diktat that the plebs (us) MUST lower "emissions" whilst the likes of Barroso, Van Rumpoy and all the other snout-in-the-trough EU uncivil servants scoot about in private jets all over Europe.
We should tell them to stick it where the sun don't shine, but Dave is too scared.
You cannot lay this at Wightlinks door, or RF.

Yeah because they don't charge enough already do they!!! In my opinion wightlink are a complete joke!! Firstly, I already feel obliged to bend over when they tell me how much my ticket will be, ontop of already cutting back on services. Now to be told prices are going up and MORE services to be cut is just ridiculous!! For us who live on the Island it's clear that work is far and few between, along with good wages. I appreciate that they are a business but surely if they made prices more appealing then they would make up profits in volume sales! Regardless, how on earth they won best operator (not that RF are great themselves) I truly do not know!! It's cheaper to travel 30 odd miles to France by boat than it is to cross 3-4 miles in the Solent!! JOKES!! I think in the absence of a tunnel (where a bridge isn't viable) hovertravel should purchase the old cross chanel hover and use that to transport cars accross the Solent!!

Lets look on the bright side.No price increases till 2015!!Dream on!!

Part 3)
and no, I am in no way associated with either RF or WL) if they don’t cover their costs then there won’t be a service provided, at all – meaning either a fixed link will be forced or the IOW will be marooned...It really is time the bigger picture was looked at

(part 2)
As a few of you have commented, a bridge to and from the mainland UK would slowly, over time, start to redress this issue and the Island would then become far more accessible to all - more people in employment, who in turn spend more money on the Island, who in turn reinvest this into the streets/roads/facilities. Just look at the IOW council closing the toilets and Information offices – on a tourist Island (!) and you can see the dire striates that things are in. And as for the ferry companies having to put prices up – yes, it is potentially going to push prices to an even higher level, but this is on the back of new legislation that forces them to buy cleaner fuel at almost treble the price they currently pay – I myself do feel sick when I have to pay a small fortune to visit friends and family (I can actually fly to Spain for less than a return car ferry crossing) but ultimately they are businesses and need to make money - put simply (and no, I am in no way associated wit

The island may well be sheltered from a “lot of the social issues that blight the UK mainland”, but, it is also very clearly sheltered from the economic prosperity that a lot of the UK benefits from. This, in itself, would be reversed if a fixed link was installed – regardless if that is a bridge or a tunnel, a fixed link would be the solution to reverse the Island’s dying streets, and would encourage economic development – I had to move away to enjoy a prosperous career, which simply wasn’t available on the Isle of Wight – I also know a huge amount of other people in my age range (late 20’s) have also done the same because there simply isn’t a viable career choice for the majority on the IOW – notably because of the lack of investment by big firms due to the Islands perceived location in the UK – adding a boat journey in is a real turn off for the majority of investors (and Vestas opening one Wind turbine factory, whilst great, isn’t a particularly massive pull is it).
As a few of y

another nail in the coffin of any iow hoped for economic recovery affecting both investment from transport cost increase and tourism.
Comes on top of the recent wightlink £10 'admin' booking charge excess and the seemingly increased incidence cancellation of early morning ferries due to alleged mechanical problems.
A case for a public stake and intervention in this Island life-line is essential and long term would surely far more beneficial for island sustainability than 2 poor value PFI's.

Any views or opinions presented in the comments above are solely those of the author and do not represent those of the Isle of Wight County Press.