CalMac’s summer timetable is due to be published in January, with bookings opening in a phased approach.
Around three-months later than usual, tickets for sailings between March 31 and June 4 will be open for booking as soon as they become available early next month.
Dates further into the busy summer period will come online for sale at a later date still to be decided. Customers will be informed of the date in advance.
Transport Scotland has still to confirm cost
A spokeswoman for CalMac said: “Finalised timetables will be issued when Transport Scotland confirms the 2023 fare levels, which is expected to happen in early January.
“Details such as sailing times have been agreed and are ready to be released as soon as a decision about fares is made.”
ℹ️ Our summer 2023 timetable will be published on our website in late Jan. Bookings will open in a phased approach. Phase 1 will cover 31 March – 4 June and will open for reservations shortly after publication. Full details in our customer update. https://t.co/n7EAd6iLjQ pic.twitter.com/PGT74iFExm
— CalMac Service Info (@CalMac_Updates) December 27, 2022
“Delay was also caused in part by the focus on a solution around the closure of Uig Harbour, as the start of the normal timetable community consultation process was moved out by several months – starting in mid-October when our summer timetables would normally go live on October 30.”
Robbie Drummond, chief executive of CalMac, apologised for the late publication of the summer timetable while thanking communities and passengers for their patience.
He said: “We understand the impact this has and for the difficulties this causes to island communities and local businesses.
“The timetables will be issued once Transport Scotland has set the fares for 2023.
“Delivering timetables is highly complex and factors such as interdependencies between routes, berthing availabilities, connecting services and tidal timetable changes must be considered.
“Once finalised, staff must enter and quality control thousands of manual entries.”
“Our operational planning and ticketing teams are now condensing timetable work that normally takes several months into as short a time as possible so we can open bookings as early as we can.
“This means that we must open our timetable for booking in phases to allow time for this work to be carried out accurately and efficiently.”
A Transport Scotland spokeswoman said: “We appreciate the need to get bookings released so that businesses and individuals can plan ahead and aim to confirm fares as soon as possible.
“In the longer term, the Islands Connectivity Plan will include a review of ferry fares, alongside our wider “fair fares” review, to ensure that our fares policy continues to address the needs of island communities.”
Conversation