I see you have had a response from Wightlink about their woeful later FastCat service.

There are some significant holes in the response.

1) I travel regularly on the 10.15pm car ferry and the number of foot passenger has grown significantly these past few months. Average c.50-60. 

2) The number of cars waiting for foot passengers at Fishbourne has increased significantly, and so it is evident that a Southern Vectis bus service is not adequate.

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3) Suggesting parking at Fishbourne is a ruse to get more money into Wightlink's coffers and can be very inconvenient for their customers. What about those that go via the FastCat and have to return via Fishbourne? They're fleeced £9 for parking at Ryde Pier Head and still have the inconvenience of a taxi, intermittent bus service or an extremely long walk to retrieve their cars. 

4) A couple of times a month I have to book on to the midnight car ferry as I'd not get on the 10.15pm (now 10pm) but I would have been able to get on the 10.45pm Fast Cat. I wouldn't register as a potential FastCat traveller as I am being made to take the car ferry. 

5) How do Wightlink gauge that FastCat numbers have not returned to pre-Covid figures (like they say the car ferry has)? There is no mechanism for you to say you would be on the FastCat if it was running and you cannot book a ferry that doesn't exist.

6) How many people no longer travel to Portsmouth for events/entertainment because of the lack of the FastCat service? How many of these, like me, now have to drive across (paying £60 instead of £14.60)? It's blurring the numbers between car and foot passenger ferry numbers. 

7) The pre-Covid all-night sailings for the FastCat was removed and Covid helped them significantly. There will always be stragglers, but putting on a ferry service at 3am was done to say late night FastCats were not viable.

8) During Covid, Wightlink transferred the £1 fee for driving up the Pier Head on to the ferry tickets. That hasn't been removed and so I, and many others, are subsidising those that choose to drive up the pier.   

It's about protecting profits and not about providing an essential service. Pre-Covid they ran early morning and late night sailings, as well as a 1/2-hourly service. That's what we would like to see return.

Read more letters sent to the County Press here. Do you have a view on this or any other subject? Send us a letter – under 350 words if possible - to editor@iwcp.co.uk