09 January 2008
The first year results from the Island Explorer service, which started in April 2007 and ran through to early November serving the Island ’s tourist attractions, have shown it was a great success. Nearly 250,000 passengers were carried and, as the service was fully integrated with the scheduled services, passengers could easily change from one route to another.
The success of the Island Explorer contributed to the most successful year yet of the Connex network. In its fifth year of operation, Connex carried nearly 3 million passengers and revenue peaked at £2,750,000. This equates to an 11% increase in ridership and a 16% increase in revenue earned for the States. The sale of one, three and five day and weekend passes increased by over £100,000 compared to the previous year representing a 62% rise.
The Minister for Transport and Technical Services, Deputy Guy de Faye , said ”I am absolutely delighted with both the ridership figures and the revenue returned, which underline the progressive improvements of the last few years. I know that the integrated network has been extremely popular with both visitors and Islanders alike and these results bear that out. I now want to work with Connex to build on this success and improve the spring/summer network for the public. In particular, I would like to see the passenger figures break the 3 million mark, as we came so close this year.”
Transport and Technical Services is now proposing some changes to both the Island Explorer service and the scheduled network to improve the quality of the service. These proposals have been put forward in the light of the experience of 2007 and introduce the concept of ‘transport hubs’ which interlink the Island Explorer routes as well as some scheduled services. The changes will also reduce the services that only ran in one direction which the public, particularly visitors to the Island , have found confusing. In addition, access has been increased to the cliff paths in an effort to encourage bus-walk-bus type trips. The full details are to be published in the JEP Gazette next Tuesday 15 January and will be available both at TTS reception at South Hill and on their website. Details will also be sent to all the Constables and the Parish Hall for information.
The current timetable ends on Saturday 15 March. It is proposed that the Island Explorer will run from April 5 (the start of the schools’ Easter holidays) through to October 11. In addition, the service will run over the Easter weekend, which is extremely this year falling on 21 to 24 March, and also the weekend following Easter. The spring shoulder ‘K’ services will not be run – the autumn services were also stopped last year – but the Island Explorer and a new Sunday circular service through St Lawrence, St Mary and St John will provide alternative routes.
The Minister, commenting on these proposals, said ”I am very excited about these changes which I think will improve the network even more. It is an evolutionary process and although some scheduled services have been cut such as the spring ‘K’ services, I believe the alternatives will serve the public better. Whatever the critics may claim, I am confident that next year’s bus service will provide better public transport than the Island has seen for decades.”
Members of the public are being asked to comment on these proposals in writing to the Minister by Friday 1 February.
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