It is a question we have asked before, but after this week’s latest CalMac PR disaster we have to ask: ‘Will they ever learn?’
To bounce a rescheduled timetable on to the unsuspecting travelling public just days before it comes into force is not how to treat your passengers.
If it had to happen, people should have been given ample notice so they could make alternative arrangements if necessary – particularly as there are fewer ferries at different times making onward travel extremely difficult.
But no. The first most knew about it was when the Arran Ferry Committee let people know on social media last weekend which, as inevitably happens on social media, led to a torrent of abuse aimed at the ferry operator.
The subsequent announcement on Monday didn’t help, leading to more questions than answers.
The fact the MV Alfred was returning to Arran was an open secret; when it was returning was not. Why it had to be at such short notice is anyone’s guess, but no-one at CalMac is saying.
Instead it calls the sea trials the Caley Isles is to undertake at other ports on the network “critical”.
What CalMac seem to forget is that a reliable, dependable ferry service for Arran is also “critical” for everyone who lives here.