It seems to me that instead of simply raising prices across the board, and facing public backlash, the ferry company could have gotten creative. They might raise prices for tickets bought at the last minute, but if you buy your tickets 24-hours in advance the old price stays in place. That way people who might plan ahead could do a little work to ensure no price increase to them. There would be less backlash against the company for doing it this way...and locals could control how much the price increase hurts them...and tourists who don't know better could pay the price increases and be none the wiser. And if I had a dollar for every time I figured out how things SHOULD have been done I'd be rich.
that is genius!!!! you sould really work for them! and i bet you'd be rich, you have really good ideas RG! i hate that the prices have gone so high! cant wonder if i was still living there, i would probably be unemployed... i had a "student" who lived in isla and went to cancun everyday for his lessons... his mom wouldnt want to pay that much... they should do something about it... for real!
Just to echo a few thoughts.. I expect that there is some sort of regulation that is supposed to be followed, but given the monopolistic nature of the ferry services there really isn't much enforcement that could be done, short of a government takeover. While the overhead might have gone up for the ferry operators since the last rate increase... and the money from tourist transport may have gone down.. doubling the tariffs will cost many people who depend on the ferries on both sides far more than an additional 25 or 35 more pesos. If the rate increase was a result of lower returns by the ferry companies, the smarter path would have been to simply cut a few of their lower traffic crossings or only a slight price increase. However, as we have all seen time and time again, that's just not the way things are done here... here the standard reaction to falling profits is to increase prices and lower quality which of'course drives away customers and destroys the business. Luckily for the ferry companies they provide a service that is not easy to avoid for residents and workers and therefore will be able to get away with it to some extent. In the end I expect they will find their profits don't increase as they might hope since the local visitors to the island will drop off so much as to negate the increase in the long run. Sadly prices very rarely decrease once they've gone up so I expect its just a fact of life that everyone will have to adjust to.
Mormis - Thanks for the compliment...I've been involved in marketing for over 20 years, I think like this in my sleep. A guy in Vermont is running a taxi service where you pay what you want...http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=111527486 And no one has refused to pay so far...alas, we are not in Vermont. Ultramar may or may not have needed to raise their prices. But one thing is certain, they screwed up with HOW they raised their prices. Just the fact that there's a thread on this board about it is a sign that the company has failed to protect their public image. Their marketing people are probably freaking out, because recovering from bad press is much harder than keeping up the good press. If the ferry company had rolled out a price increase in a creative way, that didn't hurt locals so much this thread might be full of positive statements. As it is most of us are thinking bad things about them, even if we grant that they might need to raise prices. They screwed up, no question about it!
70 pesos each way for anyone who is not a credentialed resident of Isla, a card gained not just by an FM3 or FM2, but with a comprabando domicliio. I am and it went from 25 to 50. Also a hit to me. There nave been protests marches, meetings with the mayor. Nothing. A bit of history: The Magana ferry wanted to do the same a year or less back. After a week, it was withdrawn. It did/does have old boats that need replaced over overhauled. Since both ferries raised the same day, or weekend, maybe they are in cahoots!
JIM RIVERGIRL CANUCK Jim, I love your reporting and comments and you are right about +5 could be 8, 9 or 10 years BUT, in June it was $35 pp each way and in July it was double. I doubt anything happened in terms of costs to warrant an overnight doubling of the prices. Perhaps a fare increase was long overdue but the owners chose not to go up in steps over time. But if $35 was good enough one day, $70 is an outrage the next day. Can we agree on that at least. RG - nice try. What is good for the goose in this case must not be good for the gander. If the ferries were airlines and could schedule their equipment based on known demand, then the early pay discount may be attractive to them. But alas, it will not come to pass with these sharks. I feel like going to Vermont just to pay what I think is a fair fare. Pun intended. Canuck - Seems like I read on the Ultramar website that there is no charge for children under 1.2 meters tall. You were robbed babe, unless Max has had a huge growth spurt since I last saw him.
