Dover.uk.com
If this post contains material that is offensive, inappropriate, illegal, or is a personal attack towards yourself, please report it using the form at the end of this page.

All reported posts will be reviewed by a moderator.
  • The post you are reporting:
     
    Basically because foot passengers have dried up, Peter, and what few are left have become an expensive luxury for the ferry companies to have to cater for.

    Up until sixty years ago there was nothing but foot passengers, getting off the trains at the Marine Station and boarding the ferries at the Admiralty Pier. Then came the RORO ferry revolution and universal car ownership. Nowadays almost all passengers are in cars or coaches. Nevertheless the ferry companies have day trip offers for a car+9 for £20-25 so anybody with a few mates can still do a day trip cheaply.

    The cessation of Duty Free eliminated all the footies going across for cheap fags and booze. Nowadays the ferries flog Duty Paid and the price of fags is not greatly less than in the UK. This also saw the demise of all the fast craft plying to Ostend, Calais and Boulogne as the locals and bootleggers going across were their mainstay. Hoverspeed packed up, SpeedFerries went broke, and the brief dalliance of LD with the Norman Arrow to Boulogne was an economic disaster. Fuel costs for fast craft are their nemesis.

    The market for footies actually wanting to get from A to B also evaporated with the advent of the low cost airlines and Eurostar services through the Channel Tunnel. All that is really left is people with a fear of flying, people with a fear of tunnels under the sea, adventurous backpackers and the remnant coterie of people who want a little sea trip and a glimpse of the White Cliffs of Dover. The small amount they are likely to spend onboard is greatly outweighed by the port charges for each footie and the costs of the footie buses and personnel at either end.

    The Port of Dover closed its now nearly empty foot passenger departure floor above the booking hall and the footie coaches depart from outside the doors. Provision of these buses costs money and SeaFrance decided it was not worth the candle, leaving P&O to carry those who are left. DFDS (ex Norfolkline) have never catered for footies as they run to Dunkerque West which is out in the sticks and purely for freight and tourist car traffic hitting the open road. Foot passenger fares have risen to reflect the true cost of carrying them. I see from Dover Ferry Photos that two Belgian lads paid 56 Euros between them to do a daytrip on P&O last week.

Report Post

 
end link