Passengers booking tickets for the inter-island ferry service will soon be able to do so from the comfort of their homes and offices as part of the upgrade announced by the Port Authority of T&T.
And to enhance the aesthetics, close to US$1 million is going to be spent to replace 900 seats aboard the T&T Spirit.
The proposed changes were announced during a joint press briefing on Tuesday by members of the Port Authority board and Chief Secretary of the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) Orville London.
Acting CEO for the T&T Inter-Island Transportation Company Leon Grant said various issues being faced by passengers would be addressed as he identified some of the intended plans of the Port Authority to make the service more efficient.
“We have recognised that the processes being used right now for purchasing of tickets by customers need to be overhauled. The centralisation thrust that we had worked well but what we are doing right now is that we are working on a plan to have online ticketing introduced by the end of August for full implementation.”
He said in September new seats would be installed on the T&T Spirit.
“The seats will arrive in the middle of September, so come October you are going to see a new interior in respect to the T&T Spirit, matching what now obtains on the T&T Express,” Grant said.
He noted that the 900-seat vessel would cost US$1,000 a seat to be replaced.
Responding to the challenges passengers faced when either of the two fast ferries is put on drydock for routine maintenance during peak periods, chairman of the Port Authority board Suresh Gangapersad said mitigating actions were discussed which involved consultation with the THA.
“In that way we would schedule our maintenance accordingly, sometimes typically we had a situation discussed just now where we have a statutory dry docking in October for two to three weeks and there are two critical events outlined by the THA, so what we are seeing there are ways of ensuring the vessel is safe still and deferring the maintenance but not to put the vessel at risk to ensure that we do not have a situation where you do not provide the adequate transport required between the islands,” Gangapersad said.