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Ferry prices puzzle



G

Gwylan

Well-known member
Jul 5, 2003
31,336
Uffern
looking to book a ferry crossing this summer but found the cheapest price for foot passengers was £180 return for the four of us. I checked the same trip for a car plus four passengers and it was £90. It seems counter-intuitive to me. Foot passengers have the option of the Eurostar, surely it would make more sense to try to undercut the competition, as it is, there's little difference in price.

Can anyone offer an explanation why a group of people taking up a lot more space, should get charged half the rate because it baffles me?
 




T

Tooting Gull

Well-known member
Jul 5, 2003
11,033
That is really bizarre. You'd have though it was the car deck space that was at a premium and driving the price, you can keep loading foot passengers on until you reach the safe capacity.

Mind you, as a Eurotunnel fan, you can usually get car and four for £60 return if you go early/late enough :thumbsup:
 


G

Gwylan

Well-known member
Jul 5, 2003
31,336
Uffern
Tooting Gull said:
That is really bizarre. You'd have though it was the car deck space that was at a premium and driving the price, you can keep loading foot passengers on until you reach the safe capacity.

Mind you, as a Eurotunnel fan, you can usually get car and four for £60 return if you go early/late enough :thumbsup:
Click to expand...

Plus, there's an additional personnel cost in loading and unloading vehicles and, I imagine, the additional weight would mean more fuel consumed. I also expect that carrying motor vehicles would mean higher premiums. It's the equivalent of turning up at an airport with 10 times your baggage allowance and being charged half the price for your ticket.

I've been on Eurotunnnel and it's a pretty good service but not applicable for four foot passengers.
 




fataddick

fataddick

Well-known member
Feb 6, 2004
1,601
The seaside.
Gwylan said:
looking to book a ferry crossing this summer but found the cheapest price for foot passengers was £180 return for the four of us. I checked the same trip for a car plus four passengers and it was £90. It seems counter-intuitive to me. Foot passengers have the option of the Eurostar, surely it would make more sense to try to undercut the competition, as it is, there's little difference in price.

Can anyone offer an explanation why a group of people taking up a lot more space, should get charged half the rate because it baffles me?
Click to expand...

Because car users have the brains of elderflowers and will sleep all the way across in a crusty shell of their own ignorance and vomit. Whereas you might walk about a bit, ergo cause more damage to the ferry's valuable diamond-strung silk flooring.
 




hans kraay fan club

hans kraay fan club

The voice of reason.
Helpful Moderator
Mar 16, 2005
61,273
Chandlers Ford
fataddick said:
Because car users have the brains of elderflowers and will sleep all the way across in a crusty shell of their own ignorance and vomit. Whereas you might walk about a bit, ergo cause more damage to the ferry's valuable diamond-strung silk flooring.
Click to expand...

Since when were you allowed to stay in your car on a cross channel ferry?
 


edna krabappel

edna krabappel

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jul 7, 2003
47,221
Because people with a car are likely to spend much more money in the shops, simply because they can carry it in the car, whereas foot passengers can't?
 








D

Dover

Home at Last.
Oct 5, 2003
4,474
Brighton, United Kingdom
The ferries & Dover Harbour Board have been discouraging foot passengers for some considerable time, and I think the service stops at 18.00 hrs, and resumes at 06.00. (This does need checking). So that price difference does not surprise me at all.

When I worked in the docks as an import/export clerk, many years ago. There were free shuttle buses, all night from the train station to the port. Shops and bars run by the Harbour Board, which were open 24 hrs, including The Wheelhouse, which was for truckers only, and now none of these establishments are on site. The whole ethos seems to be, get in the car, drive on, drive off, hello France.
 


P

paul wickens

Wicko1
Dec 23, 2011
60
I go on the Dover to Calais ferry occasionally. I have always wondered why it is that British motorists have to buy 'patches' for their car headlights to stop the 'dazzle' for other drivers when driving on the right hand side of the road, but, to my knowledge, foreign drivers don't have to buy them when they come to Britain and drive on the left. Doesn't the same principle of 'dazzle' apply? Has anybody been stopped by the police in France because they don't have these patches? Is this just a money making scheme taking advantage of British motorists?
 




dazzer6666

dazzer6666

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Mar 27, 2013
52,364
Burgess Hill
paul wickens said:
I go on the Dover to Calais ferry occasionally. I have always wondered why it is that British motorists have to buy 'patches' for their car headlights to stop the 'dazzle' for other drivers when driving on the right hand side of the road, but, to my knowledge, foreign drivers don't have to buy them when they come to Britain and drive on the left. Doesn't the same principle of 'dazzle' apply? Has anybody been stopped by the police in France because they don't have these patches? Is this just a money making scheme taking advantage of British motorists?
Click to expand...

This. Last time I did a day trip there were blokes wandering up and down the boarding queues trying to scare people into buying packs of anti-dazzle things, bulbs, high viz jackets and the like by saying there were inspections on the other side of the channel and it was hundreds of euros in fines if you didn't have the kit. If you're delayed at Dover for any reason there is bugger all there - possibly a small room with a vending machine. No shops or anything that I could see as [MENTION=1142]Dover[/MENTION] states. All seems to be about high turnover.
 


D

Deleted member 22389

Guest
Gwylan said:
looking to book a ferry crossing this summer but found the cheapest price for foot passengers was £180 return for the four of us. I checked the same trip for a car plus four passengers and it was £90. It seems counter-intuitive to me. Foot passengers have the option of the Eurostar, surely it would make more sense to try to undercut the competition, as it is, there's little difference in price.

Can anyone offer an explanation why a group of people taking up a lot more space, should get charged half the rate because it baffles me?
Click to expand...

Just out of interest you going for a day trip to Calais?
Why not try Newhaven -- Dieppe instead and make a weekend of it.
Loads of shops, hop on the bus to the hypermarket. Dieppe is a lot nicer than Calais. Nicer beach. Should imagine Calais town centre now resembles a migrant camp.

http://uk.dieppetourisme.com/
 


G

Gwylan

Well-known member
Jul 5, 2003
31,336
Uffern
edna krabappel said:
Because people with a car are likely to spend much more money in the shops, simply because they can carry it in the car, whereas foot passengers can't?
Click to expand...

This could be true, although there's not much choice in the duty-free shops (and booze is considerably cheaper in the French stores. This could also be off-set by the fact that non-drivers will drink more in the bars.

Dover said:
The ferries & Dover Harbour Board have been discouraging foot passengers for some considerable time ...
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Yes, that's clearly the case, the question is why? As I said earlier, handling cars entails additional expemse. Why discourage customers who cost less?
 




G

Gwylan

Well-known member
Jul 5, 2003
31,336
Uffern
bashlsdir said:
Just out of interest you going for a day trip to Calais?
Why not try Newhaven -- Dieppe instead and make a weekend of it.
Loads of shops, hop on the bus to the hypermarket. Dieppe is a lot nicer than Calais. Nicer beach. Should imagine Calais town centre now resembles a migrant camp.

http://uk.dieppetourisme.com/
Click to expand...

We're not going for a day trip. We're going for a week's holiday with some friends. They have a car and are taking the camping equipment.

Dieppe is great but we're staying 46 miles away and it takes 8 hours to get there by train - the sort of service that makes Southern seem efficient. We're actually staying near Boulogne but the ferries to there don't take foot passengers at all. I remember going to France regularly as a foot passenger in the 80s - when did it get so complicated?
 


K

knocky1

Well-known member
Jan 20, 2010
12,963
Gwylan said:
looking to book a ferry crossing this summer but found the cheapest price for foot passengers was £180 return for the four of us. I checked the same trip for a car plus four passengers and it was £90. It seems counter-intuitive to me. Foot passengers have the option of the Eurostar, surely it would make more sense to try to undercut the competition, as it is, there's little difference in price.

Can anyone offer an explanation why a group of people taking up a lot more space, should get charged half the rate because it baffles me?
Click to expand...

The aswer is that there is no explanation. Baffling indeed.
 


tinycowboy

tinycowboy

Well-known member
Aug 9, 2008
4,002
Canterbury
I've had the same problem - foot passengers are clearly not welcome. How do you go inter-railing these days? I don't know whether this change in favouring car drivers was inevitable, or whether the Channel Tunnel has distorted the market. I suspect the latter.
 


D

Deleted member 22389

Guest
Gwylan said:
We're not going for a day trip. We're going for a week's holiday with some friends. They have a car and are taking the camping equipment.

Dieppe is great but we're staying 46 miles away and it takes 8 hours to get there by train - the sort of service that makes Southern seem efficient. We're actually staying near Boulogne but the ferries to there don't take foot passengers at all. I remember going to France regularly as a foot passenger in the 80s - when did it get so complicated?
Click to expand...

This may sound a crazy way of doing things but,

Drive to Ebbsfleet, Eurostar terminal.

Hop on the Eurostar to Calais Frethun
Could they not meet you there?

I have seen fares for £40.00 single on the site.
http://www.eurostar.com/uk-en


Gare Calais-Fréthun:
Gare Calais-Fréthun, is a TGV station 10km/6 miles southwest of the town. It is the first port of call in France for the Eurostar route before landing in Lille. Passengers can alight here to connect onto the SNCF or TGV Nord to Paris services. Since summer 2006 it is possible to use Eurostar for domestic journeys between Paris Gare du Nord and Calais Frethun, although it should be pointed out that passengers are subject to the same immigration checks as if they were using Eurostar for an international journey.
 




D

Deleted member 22389

Guest
Forget my post, I didn't realise there where four of you. Not easy this.
See what you mean now.
 


CheeseRolls

CheeseRolls

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jan 27, 2009
5,946
Shoreham Beach
My guess is that foot passengers are discouraged in high season, due to turnaround times in port. A hold full of cars, is fairly predictable to unload. Foot passengers, either need to go before or after the cars, to avoid any accidents and a large number of bumbling tourists wandering around does not make for an efficient roll on roll off service.
 


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