CONCERNS have been raised about a Southampton ferry terminal as problems with traffic continue in the area.
On Friday, there were 45 minute delays around the Red Funnel terminal at Town Quay as a vehicle ferry was delayed from the Isle of Wight.
This comes after several incident in recent months where delays and mechanical failures have caused traffic problems around the city site.
One witness to the traffic problems said: “Every Thursday - Sunday the queues go back to IKEA and the Standing Man on the High Street.”
But a Red Funnel spokesperson said: “To ensure we clear traffic as quickly as possible, we have increased the number of team members on our terminal entrance to help check in and guide passengers and assist with the inflow/outflow.
“To make best use of the available space we have to load and unload vehicles, we have also worked with students at Solent University on a project to analyse the ergonomics of the space.”
This comes after calls by Southampton Itchen MP, Royston Smith to move the ferry terminal out of the area.
He said: “It is important to understand that not all the congestion is caused by Red Funnel but it is clearly part of the problem.
“As I have said in the past, the solutions are not straightforward and until we can redevelop Mayflower Park, which would include changes to the road layout, we will need work to find a reasonable short term solution.”
Deputy leader of the council and cabinet member for growth, Cllr Jeremy Moulton added: “Red Funnel are going through a challenging period at the moment with Covid.
“My view would be working with Red Funnel and finding something that works for them. Looking at an opportunity to moving them out of the city centre.
“That could mean moving them to the other side of Southampton Water to the Waterside. If they were to move out of the city centre, that would be a significant contributor to reducing congestion.”
The Red Funnel spokesperson added that it has its highest number of passengers on Fridays, Saturdays and Mondays and said: “We recognise this can have a knock-on impact on local traffic and more people are also returning to the city for shopping and travelling to the cruise terminals, which can add to congestion.“
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