Ryde Hoverport Not Available From Automated Ticket Machines

Can anyone here please explain to me why it is that at a manned ticket window of apparently any train operating company (not in any case available at my local unmanned station of Holmwood) I can happily buy a Network Card discounted ticket to Ryde Hoverport but I cannot do the same thing at any of the automated ticket vending machines run by any of the train operating companies including South West Trains (who are presumably responsible for any station destinations on the Isle of Wight including Ryde Hoverport, even though it isn't actually a physical station but merely a through train and hovercraft ticket destination) as Ryde Hoverport is not shown in the alphabetical list of stations.

The automatic ticket machines all know about Ryde Pierhead, Ryde Esplanade and Ryde St John's Road but they act like Ryde Hoverport does not exist as a valid destination even though it does exist and I have lots of tickets here issues from manned ticket windows to that very destination from manned ticketing windows.

Clearly there is one database, probably run by Network Rail, that is feeding these automated ticket machines that is different to the database feeding the manned ticket issuing windows and for whatever reason Ryde Hoverport got left out, probably due to some anomaly with the fact it isn't an actual physical rail station (but then nor are West Cowes or East Cowes).

You would think this would be a simple issue to get fixed but it isn't because everyone tries to pass the buck so South West trains try to throw me back to Southern (as my journey starts on their network) and Southern tries to throw me to South West trains. Network Rail also seem to think this issue isn't their problem and Hovertravel (who you would think had the most to lose if it is far easier to travel to the Isle of Wight with Wightlink, Redjet or Red Funnel) know of the problem but don't seem to know why it exists.

All I can say is that if I go to Horsham Station to get the first train of the day available on a Network card fare to Ryde Hoverport it is very inconvenient as there are often huge queues of people such as elderly groups of walkers etc all buying fares at the manned ticket window at that time of day and the queues can be so long that you end up missing your train and connection at Portsmouth over to the Isle of Wight.

Capvermell said:

Can anyone here please explain to me why it is that at a manned ticket window of apparently any train operating company (not in any case available at my local unmanned station of Holmwood) I can happily buy a Network Card discounted ticket to Ryde Hoverport but I cannot do the same thing at any of the automated ticket vending machines run by any of the train operating companies including South West Trains (who are presumably responsible for any station destinations on the Isle of Wight including Ryde Hoverport, even though it isn't actually a physical station but merely a through train and hovercraft ticket destination) as Ryde Hoverport is not shown in the alphabetical list of stations.

The automatic ticket machines all know about Ryde Pierhead, Ryde Esplanade and Ryde St John's Road but they act like Ryde Hoverport does not exist as a valid destination even though it does exist and I have lots of tickets here issues from manned ticket windows to that very destination from manned ticketing windows.

Clearly there is one database, probably run by Network Rail, that is feeding these automated ticket machines that is different to the database feeding the manned ticket issuing windows and for whatever reason Ryde Hoverport got left out, probably due to some anomaly with the fact it isn't an actual physical rail station (but then nor are West Cowes or East Cowes).

You would think this would be a simple issue to get fixed but it isn't because everyone tries to pass the buck so South West trains try to throw me back to Southern (as my journey starts on their network) and Southern tries to throw me to South West trains. Network Rail also seem to think this issue isn't their problem and Hovertravel (who you would think had the most to lose if it is far easier to travel to the Isle of Wight with Wightlink, Redjet or Red Funnel) know of the problem but don't seem to know why it exists.

All I can say is that if I go to Horsham Station to get the first train of the day available on a Network card fare to Ryde Hoverport it is very inconvenient as there are often huge queues of people such as elderly groups of walkers etc all buying fares at the manned ticket window at that time of day and the queues can be so long that you end up missing your train and connection at Portsmouth over to the Isle of Wight.

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Hi,

Yes it’s in the fares database as can be seen here:

http://www.brfares.com/#!fares?orig=HLM&dest=XRD&rlc=NEW

It looks like Ryde Hoverport has been allocated the CRS code of XRD which looks slightly unusual AFAIK these codes usually use letters that are in the station name, i.e. Holmwood is HLM.

I’m not sure if this is because it is not a psysical station though.

Anyway, I tried inputting the journey into the Greater Anglia app (other apps are available), and that worked so if all else fails maybe you can buy the tickets online and collect TOD?

Saperstein.

Non-rail destinations in the rail ticketing system tend to have a CRS code beginning with X.

Saperstein said:

Hi,

Yes it’s in the fares database as can be seen here:

http://www.brfares.com/#!fares?orig=HLM&dest=XRD&rlc=NEW

It looks like Ryde Hoverport has been allocated the CRS code of XRD which looks slightly unusual AFAIK these codes usually use letters that are in the station name, i.e. Holmwood is HLM.

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Southern's fare machines and most other fare machines I have used rely on station name entry letter by letter and the more letters are entered the less station choices are presented. So after entering RYD you get Ryde Esplanade, Ryde Pierhead and Ryde St John's Road but not Ryde Hoverport. However I don't know if I enter XRD if this will produce a button with a choice of Ryde Hoverport or not. I will have to give it a try later on today.

Also later today I will be near a South West trains station so will use their ticket machine to see if I can pull up Ryde Hoverport there either by entering RYD or XRD. However I tried whichever ticket machine was provided by whichever train operating company (probably South Eastern, although isn't that also owned by GoVia like Southern?) the other day at Denmark Hill in London and the same problem of not being able to pick Ryde Hoverport also existed there.

Also you have to know that say picking Ryde Pierhead entitles you to travel by Wightlink Fastcat as nowhere is this made explicitly clear on the ticket vending machine menus. Also the last time I used the hovercraft a disturbing number of people were on the rail-link bus from Portsmouth & SouthSea station and were then still to be seen buying more expensive Hovercraft return tickets at the Hoverport as well as having to shell out separately for the Hoverlink bus. So I would say that awareness that you can buy a rail ticket that includes the Hovercraft is pretty poor, probably not least because the destination is not being offered from any of the automated rail ticket selling machines......

Capvermell said:

Southern's fare machines and most other fare machines I have used rely on station name entry letter by letter and the more letters are entered the less station choices are presented. So after entering RYD you get Ryde Esplanade, Ryde Pierhead and Ryde St John's Road but not Ryde Hoverport. However I don't know if I enter XRD if this will produce a button with a choice of Ryde Hoverport or not. I will have to give it a try later on today.

Also later today I will be near a South West trains station so will use their ticket machine to see if I can pull up Ryde Hoverport there either by entering RYD or XRD. However I tried whichever ticket machine was provided by whichever train operating company (probably South Eastern, although isn't that also owned by GoVia like Southern?) the other day at Denmark Hill in London and the same problem of not being able to pick Ryde Hoverport also existed there.

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Sorry if I confused you with the CRS code, I’ve never known a TVM to yield results by entering one but ICBW.

I mearly quoted that to show that it is in the fare database and that it started with X, which @Bletchleyite kindly explained non-rail destinations often do.

I still think TOD is your best bet at the moment.

Saperstein.

It's fairly common for TVMs not to have the "X" prefixed locations - for instance most of them don't have "Luton Airport" (as opposed to Parkway).

Have you tried specifying the destination as Ryde Esplanade instead of Ryde Hoverport? I'm encountering slightly different - but possibly related issue (this thread): I'm trying to get a ticket to Ryde Esplanade, and online journey planners keep suggesting going via the hovercraft. That's online, not using ticket machines, but it suggests to me that Ryde Esplanade is considered equivalent to the hoverport as a destination for the purposes of at least some journeys. So possibly specifying Ryde Esplanade would give you the correct ticket options? (I don't know for sure, but it seems a possibility worth trying)

It might give you an invalid ticket, but unless explicitly routed for the hovercraft Ryde Esplanade tickets are not valid on it.

I bought a single to Rye (Sussex) at Southend Airport on Monday, amusingly a message popped up on the screen saving that this ticket was not valid via the Hoverport. Fortunately the ticket was just any permitted

Capvermell said:

Also you have to know that say picking Ryde Pierhead entitles you to travel by Wightlink Fastcat as nowhere is this made explicitly clear on the ticket vending machine menus.

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Most people would be horrified at the idea of getting a bus, to then get a Hovercraft as opposed to walking from the train to the boat.

Capvermell said:

Also the last time I used the hovercraft a disturbing number of people were on the rail-link bus from Portsmouth & SouthSea station and were then still to be seen buying more expensive Hovercraft return tickets at the Hoverport as well as having to shell out separately for the Hoverlink bus.

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That, as with DynamicSpirit's issue below, is a journey planner problem caused by the overall journey to Esplanade being marginally quicker by using the Hovercraft.

DynamicSpirit said:

Have you tried specifying the destination as Ryde Esplanade instead of Ryde Hoverport? I'm encountering slightly different - but possibly related issue (this thread): I'm trying to get a ticket to Ryde Esplanade, and online journey planners keep suggesting going via the hovercraft.

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Yep, as stated before, it's a journey planner related issue.

I suspect that the TVM problem is due to the fact that the destination has not been enabled, quite possibly due to the volume of people not realising they were buying a ticket for a journey they din't want to make.

Bletchleyite said:

It's fairly common for TVMs not to have the "X" prefixed locations - for instance most of them don't have "Luton Airport" (as opposed to Parkway).

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Veering off-topic, but Luton Airport has a CRS code of LUA.

Haywain said:

Most people would be horrified at the idea of getting a bus, to then get a Hovercraft as opposed to walking from the train to the boat.

That, as with DynamicSpirit's issue below, is a journey planner problem caused by the overall journey to Esplanade being marginally quicker by using the Hovercraft.

Yep, as stated before, it's a journey planner related issue.

I suspect that the TVM problem is due to the fact that the destination has not been enabled, quite possibly due to the volume of people not realising they were buying a ticket for a journey they din't want to make.

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If youre going to Ryde itself (or a bus connection) the hovercraft isn't actually that bad, OK you have the bus on the mainland but you don't have the train down the pier which may not connect with the ferry. Most train enthusiasts may be horrified but not normals Id suggest.

DynamicSpirit said:

Have you tried specifying the destination as Ryde Esplanade instead of Ryde Hoverport? I'm encountering slightly different - but possibly related issue (this thread): I'm trying to get a ticket to Ryde Esplanade, and online journey planners keep suggesting going via the hovercraft. That's online, not using ticket machines, but it suggests to me that Ryde Esplanade is considered equivalent to the hoverport as a destination for the purposes of at least some journeys. So possibly specifying Ryde Esplanade would give you the correct ticket options? (I don't know for sure, but it seems a possibility worth trying)

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Yes after further discussions with a more intelligent member of Hovertravel customer service staff on the phone it does appear that the whole reason you can't buy a ticket to Ryde Hoverport from the Ticket Vending Machines is because the journey path via the hovercraft is currently quite illogically associated only with the destination of Ryde Esplanade (which is in fact a station on South West Trains Island line one stop down from Ryde Pierhead) and the TVMs can't seem to cope with more than one station at a time being associated with the Hovercraft travel routing path.

This whole situation is utter nonsense in my opinion as Ryde Esplanade surely should be a destination associated with a journey to Ryde Pierhead with Wightlink that then also lets you get on the island line to travel one stop to Ryde Esplanade using the same through ticket. But if you want to buy a through a ticket from a TVM to to travel via Wightlink and then on the Island line to Ryde Pierhead the only way you can actually do it is to buy a ticket one station too far to Ryde St John's Road and then get off a stop before your ticketed destination (which will work as the guard/ticket inspector on the train will accept that ticket and there are no barriers to go through on the Island line and that ticket is definitely valid via Wightlink).

The whole current situation with the fare structure to the Isle of Wight is pretty odd as to take the journey via the Hovercraft its for some perverse reason significantly cheaper to buy a ticket from Holmwood station (10 miles north of Horsham) and then change at Horsham for £31.40 Off Peak Day return than to start the journey from Horsham (10 miles nearer to Portsmouth & Southsea station) where the fare now becomes £33.60 But if I want to cross over to the Isle of Wight via the Wightlink (ticket vending machine destination has to be chosen as Ryde Pier Head) fast cat service its then substantially cheaper to start from Horsham (as you would expect given that its 10 miles nearer to Portsmouth & Southsea) at an Off Peak return fare of £36.60 compared to starting from Holmwood where the journey will now cost you an Off Peak day return fare of £43.10

Clearly the most illogical thing in this whole situation is that for a journey on the Hovercraft its cheaper to start from Holmwood that is 10 miles further away from Portsmouth than Horsham station and that selecting a journey to Ryde Esplanade is in fact the only way to buy a valid ticket from an automated ticket vending machine that is valid via the Hovercraft. Whereas you would clearly expect choosing Ryde Esplanade as your station destination to give you a journey routing path via Wightlink and then travelling one stop south on the island line from Ryde Pierhead.

The bottom line is that somebody has clearly got something badly wrong somewhere when setting all this up in the ticket vending and routing path database but that if I travel from my nearest station (which is Ockley but I don't use it because there is now a very recently introduced £3 per day Saba car park charge and nowhere else safe to park near the station that is free, although it is only an 0.75 mile walk but the walking route is extremely dangerous and traffic unfriendly, especially after dark) or my next nearest station (which is Holmwood and where parking is still free in the whole village) it is substantially cheaper to take a journey routing with Hovetravel than with Wightlink. But it is pure madness that if somebody picks Ryde Esplanade as the destination they are not given the choice of making the journey either via the Hovercraft/Hovertravel or Wightlink/Fastcat at two different price level (as with tickets valid via London or not) with two different journey routings being shown on the National Rail website. Alternatively either routing path could or should in my opinion be valid at the same ticket price.

It would in any case be far more logical to pick Ryde Hoverport to travel via hovercraft and to assume that if anyone picks Ryde Esplanade they want to travel via Wightlink and then one stop south on the island line. Also extrapolating all this a bit further and bearing in mind that the train lines on the island used (pre Beeching) to run from both Ryde and Cowes to Newport it seems pretty odd that you can't pick Newport as a destination to get a ticket that includes bus travel to Newport or at least that Southern Vectis (the bus operator on the island) are not part of the Plusbus scheme given that Newport is the capital of the island and large numbers of people need to regularly make journeys from Newport to London and back.

I suppose this is the sort of thing that will all get picked up one day when there is a major review of the logic (or rather the total lack of it) of the current fares and ticketing system. But as its currently pretty cheap to make a journey from Horsham or Holmwood to Ryde using a Network card any such review may not come out in my favour................

Haywain said:

I suspect that the TVM problem is due to the fact that the destination has not been enabled, quite possibly due to the volume of people not realising they were buying a ticket for a journey they din't want to make.

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I don't think that's actually true as anyone buying a ticket from a TVM to Ryde Esplanade is likely to assume that it is valid via Wightlink and then on the Island Line, whereas anyone buying a ticket to Ryde Hoverport would be quite clear about what means of travel is used to cross the Solent from Portsmouth.

In any case for me the Hovercraft is cheaper, also includes a bus journey and overall is probably more fun, although the Wightlink catamaran service does at least let you ride on the open outside upper deck on a nice day and there is also more opportunity to take in the views of the island, Solent and Portsmouth.

Capvermell said:

I suppose this is the sort of thing that will all get picked up one day when there is a major review of the logic (or rather the total lack of it) of the current fares and ticketing system. But as its currently pretty cheap to make a journey from Horsham or Holmwood to Ryde using a Network card any such review may not come out in my favour................

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So, you've found a fare anomaly that works in your favour, and you'd like retail and pricing systems to completely ignore that fact that Ryde Hoverport is very adjacent to Ryde Esplanade station. Is that right?

Haywain said:

So, you've found a fare anomaly that works in your favour, and you'd like retail and pricing systems to completely ignore that fact that Ryde Hoverport is very adjacent to Ryde Esplanade station. Is that right?

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Surely Ryde Esplanade is far more adjacent to Ryde Esplanade station on the SWT Island Line so one would expect that destination to be associated only with the Wightlink service to RydePierhead.

I'm happy with the current fares to Ryde Hoverport but they should either be available on the automated ticket vending machines under that destination name or alternatively Ryde Hoverport should not exist as a destination and only Ryde Espanade should but there should be alternative routing paths of either travelling via Wightlink Fastcat or Hovertravel Hovercraft at the relevant and appropriate fare levels.

The current situation of Ryde Hoverport existing as a destination that can be issued by a manned ticket desk but not by an automated ticket vending machine remains highly illogical and extremely confusing for anyone wanting to journey to the island for the first time, especially if starting that journey from one of the very many stations on the network with no manned ticketing window or a ticketing window that is only open for limited hours each day.

Capvermell said:

I'm happy with the current fares to Ryde Hoverport but they should either be available on the automated ticket vending machines under that destination name or alternatively Ryde Hoverport should not exist as a destination and only Ryde Espanade should but there should be alternative routing paths of either travelling via Wightlink Fastcat or Hovertravel Hovercraft at the relevant and appropriate fare levels.

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The easiest way would be for both to agree the same reimbursement level and all tickets to be valid both ways, with them taking a copy of each ticket to confirm who should be paid for the journey. Creating lots of duplicate routes would be an awkward faff.

Bletchleyite said:

The easiest way would be for both to agree the same reimbursement level and all tickets to be valid both ways, with them taking a copy of each ticket to confirm who should be paid for the journey. Creating lots of duplicate routes would be an awkward faff.

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I see there was an earlier discussion in June last year in this forum of the very many anomalies associated with buying through rail tickets to an Isle of Wight destination (including the ban on buying such tickets from Portsmouth Stations) at www.railforums.co.uk/threads/trip-to-isle-of-wight-with-hovercraft.165330/

EDIT:- There was also a further discussion last year of an incorrect temporary breaking of the data linking the hovercraft journey with a rail one at www.railforums.co.uk/threads/deletion-of-fixed-link-from-southsea-hoverport-to-portsmouth.173785/

Bottom line in my opinion is still that as long as the fares are different that journeys with Hovertravel purchased from the TVMs ought to be selected by picking Ryde Hoverport as the station destination and any selection of Ryde Esplanade as a station destination surely ought to imply a journey path via Wightlink Fastcat and then one stop on the Island line to Ryde Esplanade station (given that the Hoverport is already basically on the Esplanade).

But as you rightly say the simpler thing would be for both companies to agree to allow passengers to travel on either service at the same fare level. However I think Wightlink charge more for their Fastcat because they rely on people accidentally ending up at Portsmouth Harbour as a terminus on the line. For instance when I tried to make this journey by hovercraft for the first time I overshot Portsmouth & Southsea station and had to travel back one stop as there weren't clear enough indications given that Hovertravel customers should alight at Portsmouth & Southsea and catch the connecting dedicated Hoverbus. It also probably didn't help that my original train from Horsham to Portsmouth Harbour was short terminated at Fratton due to an earlier incident on the line making that service run quite late

The National Rail journey planner can in fact be forced to show a return journey to Ryde Esplanade Island Line station via Wightlink Fastcat and then using the Island Line down the pier if the Advanced Options tab is used to set a Via route of Portsmouth Harbour. But the fare is then £36.60 Off Peak Return compared to only £31.40 walking to Ryde Esplanade station from Ryde Hoverport. I suppose it only calculates the walking route from Ryde Hoverport to Ryde Esplanade because it is a cheaper fare than the Fastcat and Island line option. It would however be much simpler and easier to understand if Ryde Esplanade was retitled Ryde Esplanade (via Wightlink Fastcat) and the only way to buy a hovercraft ticket was to specify Ryde Hoverport as the destination so long as it was then available from all automated ticket vending machines.............

I now discover that yet a further twist is that if you select any other station on the Isle of Wight Island Line apart from Ryde Esplanade the National Rail journey planner in fact then defaults to the several pounds more expensive journey via Wightlink Fastcat and the cheaper fare option via the Hovertravel hovercraft is only offered if you manually set a Via route of Ryde Hoverport under the Advanced Options tab. Yet if the logic was consistent then selecting Ryde Esplanade would also cause the routing via Wightlink to be offered. So this whole conflict seems to come out of the fact that Ryde Hoverport is not properly set up as a normal station in the fare calculation system.

Capvermell said:

I now discover that yet a further twist is that if you select any other station on the Isle of Wight Island Line apart from Ryde Esplanade the National Rail journey planner in fact then defaults to the several pounds more expensive journey via Wightlink Fastcat and the cheaper fare option via the Hovertravel hovercraft is only offered if you manually set a Via route of Ryde Hoverport under the Advanced Options tab. Yet if the logic was consistent then selecting Ryde Esplanade would also cause the routing via Wightlink to be offered. So this whole conflict seems to come out of the fact that Ryde Hoverport is not properly set up as a normal station in the fare calculation system.

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I suspect that's more likely to be because, to get to any station other than Ryde Esplanade via the hovercraft, you'd need to get a train after the hovercraft has arrived at Ryde. Waiting for the additional train connection is going to add to the journey time, making the route slower then via Wightlink. Hence journey planners are less likely to show it.

Bletchleyite said:

The easiest way would be for both to agree the same reimbursement level and all tickets to be valid both ways, with them taking a copy of each ticket to confirm who should be paid for the journey. Creating lots of duplicate routes would be an awkward faff.

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I'm not sure how practical that would be given that Wightlink can presumably carry far greater numbers of people than the hovercraft. And I think the hovercraft has a system of seat reservations, doesn't it? I wonder whether having all tickets valid both ways might mean you're more likely to get too many people turning up at the hoverport, who cannot be accommodated?

Capvermell said:

Yes after further discussions with a more intelligent member of Hovertravel customer service staff on the phone it does appear that the whole reason you can't buy a ticket to Ryde Hoverport from the Ticket Vending Machines is because the journey path via the hovercraft is currently quite illogically associated only with the destination of Ryde Esplanade (which is in fact a station on South West Trains Island line one stop down from Ryde Pierhead) and the TVMs can't seem to cope with more than one station at a time being associated with the Hovercraft travel routing path.

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Ah, glad you managed to find out the explanation.

Capvermell said:

It would in any case be far more logical to pick Ryde Hoverport to travel via hovercraft and to assume that if anyone picks Ryde Esplanade they want to travel via Wightlink and then one stop south on the island line. Also extrapolating all this a bit further and bearing in mind that the train lines on the island used (pre Beeching) to run from both Ryde and Cowes to Newport it seems pretty odd that you can't pick Newport as a destination to get a ticket that includes bus travel to Newport or at least that Southern Vectis (the bus operator on the island) are not part of the Plusbus scheme given that Newport is the capital of the island and large numbers of people need to regularly make journeys from Newport to London and back.

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I'm not sure that would be so logical. It would work for people who have decided up front which of the ferry and the hovercraft they want to use, and who know about your proposed 'Esplande=Wightlink only' rule - in other words, it'd work for locals and rail geeks! But it'd make it pretty difficult for anyone who just wants to get to Ryde town centre and doesn't care how they get there, since they would then have to check two different destinations to determine the best schedule/ticket. For that reason, I think it would make more sense for ticket machines and journey planners to treat Ryde Esplanade station and the hoverport as the same destination, with some very obvious option for people to pick 'ferry only' or 'hovercraft only'.

Capvermell said:

...For instance when I tried to make this journey by hovercraft for the first time I overshot Portsmouth & Southsea station and had to travel back one stop as there weren't clear enough indications given that Hovertravel customers should alight at Portsmouth & Southsea and catch the connecting dedicated Hoverbus...

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Just out of interest, and perhaps you did this long ago, but I noticed earlier today that almost every one of the station name boards along the down platform at Portsmouth and Southsea has a subsidiary sign underneath explaining that it is where you must alight for the hovercraft service. The signs all look as though they’ve been there quite a while...

swt_passenger said:

Just out of interest, and perhaps you did this long ago, but I noticed earlier today that almost every one of the station name boards along the down platform at Portsmouth and Southsea has a subsidiary sign underneath explaining that it is where you must alight for the hovercraft service. The signs all look as though they’ve been there quite a while...

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To notice the message on the platform station name signs you would have needed to either have stopped opposite one or alighted from the train or be a regular traveller on the line.

The problem would be solved by a voice announcement and/or use of the electronic visual train describers to clearly indicate "alight here for railbus connections to Ryde Hoverport".

This is also to add that I stopped off while passing Slough station on Friday evening and found, as i expected, that just like all Southern and Southeastern ticket machines the First machine at Slough did not offer Ryde Hoverport as a possible destination when typing in RYD on all stations search to try to locate it.

DynamicSpirit said:

I think the hovercraft has a system of seat reservations, doesn't it? I wonder whether having all tickets valid both ways might mean you're more likely to get too many people turning up at the hoverport, who cannot be accommodated?

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Through rail tickets valid on either Wightlink or Hovertravel services sold as Anytime or Offpeak tickets are valid on any relevant connecting service to the train the customer chooses to use (which they are not committed to in any respect other than not being able to catch one in peak hours on an off-peak ticket). I also believe that foot passenger tickets purchases directly from Wightlink or Hovertravel are valid any service of the customer's choice and it is only car passengers on Wightlink and Red Funnel that have to commit in advance to travelling on a particular crossing. On the whole the Hovertravel services never come close to being full up and at the times of day when they might do (weekday morning and evening peak) they avoid this happening by using both hovercraft to operate a quarter hourly rather than the normal summer half hourly service during the peak time period.

I really don't get all these claims saying its too difficult for customers to have to make a choice between Wightlink and Hovertravel (depending how much you are prepared to pay for the ticket) when most passengers travelling on journeys that can go Via London or Not regularly have to make that very choice at the automated ticket machines and do so quite successfully.

I think it is far better for customers to make a clear cut choice between travelling by the Wightlink or Hovertravel services rather than for the fare and route choosing system to make that choice for them as presently happens by selecting the cheaper fare option (via Hovertravel) to Ryde Esplanade but the more expensive one (crossing with Wightlink) to all other destinations on the same Island line.

In my view the system should let customers choose between Fastest Possible Journey and Cheapest Possible Journey and also make clear which mode of transport crossing the Solent is involved in each different choice.

swt_passenger said:

Just out of interest, and perhaps you did this long ago, but I noticed earlier today that almost every one of the station name boards along the down platform at Portsmouth and Southsea has a subsidiary sign underneath explaining that it is where you must alight for the hovercraft service. The signs all look as though they’ve been there quite a while...

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The hoverbus actually goes in a circular route Hoverport, The Hard (outside Portsmouth Harbour Station), Commercial Road (just up the road from Portsmouth and Southsea Station), Hoverport so it's not really an issue anyway.

paul1609 said:

The hoverbus actually goes in a circular route Hoverport, The Hard (outside Portsmouth Harbour Station), Commercial Road (just up the road from Portsmouth and Southsea Station), Hoverport so it's not really an issue anyway.

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But you make this point as an experienced user of the service and/or local resident of the area and not (as most leisure passengers to the Isle of Wight are) someone negotiatiing the service for the first time.

To a first time traveler on the route if you don't get off at Portsmouth & Southsea then on arrival at Portsmouth Harbour the only signs you see on the station concourse are the very large and prominent ones directing you to the Wightlink ferry. Also when this happened to me there was a train leaving back towards Portsmouth & Southsea in about 2 minutes time so the best option seemed to be to catch that train once I had consulted the National Rail website on my phone and found that my bus connection was not supposed to be from Portsmouth Harbour station.