by Andy W » 29 Feb 2016, 19:05
Dodekanisos Seaways get no subsidy for operating between Rhodes and Symi, so there isn't any real leverage that anyone can apply to them. They are however approachable and if enough people contacted them (use the contact form on their website) they might be persuaded to reconsider.
It is fairly obvious that the evening sailings on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays from Rhodes to Symi and the morning sailings on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Sundays and Mondays from Symi to Rhodes must have failed to cover even the direct cost of fuel and wages for them in May and early June last year, since it isn't that they have anything else to use the ferry for this year, it just sits in port at these times of day.
The only Greek ferry timetables that are accurate are ones compiled after the ferry has left, so can there be changes? Of course. Are there errors in the on-line timetable, and so in the summary that I produce? Yes. There are cases where a boat apparently finishes work one evening in Rhodes and then mysteriously appears in Samos the next morning, and others where a ferry shows up in Kos without arriving from anywhere else first. But this is the earliest that Symi's summer ferry timetable has ever been released and I think we should thank Dodekanisos Seaways for the effort they've put in to do this. People like me can remember when no timetable was ever available more than a week in advance. We coped as tourists, and so did the people of Symi.