The mis-match between capacity and demand on the Craignure-Oban service is becoming extreme. It is now very difficult to travel with certainty unless you book weeks in advance. This is in part due to the very low ‘covid safe’ passenger limits, and in part due to to high vehicle numbers, particularly campervans that consume a lot of deck space.
We are hearing reports of how this is impacting in some extreme cases – for example mourners unable to attend an island funeral; a patient transfer ambulance that could not be offered a space for nearly a week; and multiple people having difficulty making important appointments including hospital visits.
If you have had experiences relating to unavailable ferry space that you think are unacceptable, please let us know by emailing us. We are raising this subject firmly with CalMac, government and Transport Scotland. If we know the full extent of the problem, it will help with those representations.