Updated Sailings and Carryings Charts

The Cowal and Roseneath Community Needs Assessment report, included charts depicting the sailings and carryings on each route. Following feedback from users and community representatives, these charts have been updated to show the more recent usage on both routes. Year-round sailing data has been used in the updated charts instead of only summer sailings as was the case in the report published in September 2024.

Gourock-Dunoon

Carryings by timetable period and day of week

Figure 1, as described in the text below
Figure 1: Gourock - Dunoon Route - number of sailings by passengers carried Oct 23 - Sep 24 (Source: CFL)

The latest sailing data implies that:

  • 5% of sailings carry no passengers
  • 14% of sailings carried fewer than 3 passengers
  • 33% of sailings carried fewer than 7 passengers
  • 66% of sailings carried fewer than 16 passengers
  • 1% of sailings carried more than 50 passengers

Figure 1 above is the updated Figure 3.3 (pg. 21) and the carrying data is the updated paragraph 3.3.7 (pg. 21) from CNA report.

Figure 2 below shows the number of passengers carried on each sailing from Dunoon to Gourock from October 2023 to September 2024.

Figure 2, as described in the text below
Figure 2: Dunoon - Gourock, passengers per sailing Sep 23 - Oct 24 (Source: CFL)

(Updated Figure 3.4, pg 22, CNA Report)

  • The main points of note from the above figure are as follows:
  • Of the sailings that would facilitate an 09:00 arrival in Glasgow, the 07:35 sailing is the busiest sailing Monday – Friday.
  • The 11:05 sailing from Dunoon to Gourock is the busiest sailing of the day.
  • Weekend demand is much more concentrated in the middle of the day, supporting leisure travel to Inverclyde and Glasgow.
  • It is notable from the chart that evening sailings are very lightly used on weekdays. Weekend evening sailings are used more intensively.

Figure 3 below shows the number of passengers carried on each sailing from Gourock to Dunoon from October 2023 to September 2024.

Figure 3, as described in the text below
Figure 3: Gourock - Dunoon, passengers per sailing Oct 23 - Sep 24 (Source: CFL)

(Updated figure 3.5, pg. 23, CNA report). The chart does not include three special sailings for Cowal Games in the interest of legibility, however, these are included in the overall passenger numbers considered.

  • The main points of note from the above figure are as follows:
    • The Monday – Friday westbound flow is broadly the reverse of the Dunoon – Gourock direction in Figure 2, with the greatest demand being in mid-afternoon and early evening, as commuters and residents travelling for leisure / personal business return to Cowal. The peak weekday sailing in volume terms is the 17:20.
    • The weekend pattern is broadly similar across the two directions, although weighted slightly more towards the later sailings from Gourock, with Cowal residents returning from e.g., leisure trips to Glasgow and Inverclyde.
    • The evening sailings are busier in the ‘to Cowal’ direction, particularly on a Saturday (and a Friday, although this is not shown independently in the figure).

Gourock-Kilcreggan

Figure 4 below breaks down the annual carryings by month for October 2023 to September 2024:

Figure 4, as described in the text below
Figure 4: Kilcreggan - Gourock, carryings by month Oct 23 - Sep 24 (Source: CFL)

(Updated Figure 4.2, pg. 50, 2024 CNA report)

  • The main points of note from the above figure are as follows:
  • July is the peak month for carryings, likely driven by tourist / day-trippers and leisure travel from Rosneath. May is the second busiest month, with the two months enveloping the Scottish and English / Welsh school summer holidays and May public holidays respectively and collectively accounting for almost a quarter of annual route carryings.
  • Whilst summer is the peak period for the route, it is evident that there is a core year-round demand, with circa 2,200-3,500 passengers per month carried over the period November – February.

Figure 5 below highlights total carryings by day of week between October 2023 to September 2024:

Figure 5, as described in the text below
Figure 5: Kilcreggan - Gourock, carryings by day of the week Oct 23- Sep 24 (Source: CFL))

(Updated Figure 4.3, pg.51, 2024 CNA report)

Carryings volumes are broadly similar across weekdays, although slightly reduced on a Friday. Saturday carryings are slightly lower than on a weekday on average. It should though be noted that the Saturday average is likely influenced by much higher carryings in summer and lower carryings in winter.

All sailings (both directions) from October 2023 to September 2024 have been analysed based on their passengers carried per sailing. Figure 6 below shows the number of times the ferry sailed with 0, 1, 2 etc up to the maximum of 100 passengers.

Figure 6, as described in the text below
Figure 6: Gourock - Kilcreggan Route - number of sailings by passengers carries Oct 24 - Sep 23

(updated Figure 4.4, pg. 52, 2024 CNA report)

Update of 4.3.10, pg.52, 2024 report is as below. The latest sailing data implies that:

  • 12% of sailings carry no passengers
  • 36% of sailings carried fewer than 3 passengers
  • 75% of sailings carried fewer than 8 passengers
  • 91% of sailings carried fewer than 16 passengers
  • Over 1% of sailings carried more than 50 passengers

Figure 7 below shows the average carryings by sailing on the Gourock – Kilcreggan route for September 2023 to October 2024:

Figure 7, as described in the text below
Figure 7: Gourock - Kilcreggan, average passengers per sailing by weekday Oct 23 - Sep 24 (Source: CFL)

(Updated Figure 4.5, pg. 53, 2024 CNA report)

  • The main points of note from the above figure are as follows:
  • The first two departures of the day from Gourock, the 06:40 and 06:41 (reflecting a change in timetable) are by some distance the busiest of the day. This likely reflects staff travelling to HMNB Clyde and, to a much lesser extent, RNAD Coulport.
  • Outwith these two departures, carryings are typically very low with fewer than 10 passengers on average carried on each sailing, with many sailings operating with fewer than five passengers. There is little variation in the pattern of carryings across the week.

Figure 8 below shows the equivalent data are presented for the reverse direction, Kilcreggan to Gourock:

Figure 8, as described in the text below
Figure 8: Kilcreggan - Gourock, average passengers per sailing by weekday Oct 23 - Sep 24 (Source: CFL)

(Updated Figure 4.6, pg. 54, 2024 CNA report)

The Kilcreggan – Gourock direction is broadly the reverse of the ‘to Kilcreggan’ direction, with commuters from HMNB Clyde and RNAD Coulport returning to Inverclyde. Whilst in the morning ‘to Kilcreggan’ direction the demand is split across two sailings, almost all demand in the evening is carried on the 17:02 service.