If our travel links ain’t broke, then don’t try to fix them!

This time, what appears to be another attempt to have our ‘gashe’ and eat it could play havoc with securing a deal with Condor to underwrite our lifeline ferry link.

It’s particularly unnerving in the wake of the loss of the Heulin-Renouf freight carrier, yet it highlights both our island vulnerability and the fragility of attempting to score clever ‘deals’ with sea , air and even bus operators, which might look tough on paper but dissolve in the swirling waters of implementation.

In the case of Condor, the island is served by company which year in-year out ploughs through fog, tempest and fluctuating passenger loading. Of course, when things go wrong, we quickly know about it; when an overworked engine breaks down, it makes media headlines.

Nevertheless, we have benefitted from reliable fast sea connections for twenty years – it’s easy to forget how long it used to take to cross the water, and how cumbersome were the arrangements for loading and unloading vehicles and freight.

So, yes, the company enjoys a virtual monopoly, but let’s remind ourselves that there’s a distinct lack of other competitors queuing up to wrest the privilege of the operation out of Condor’s hands.

In fact, as the current vessels gradually show their age and need replacing, the last thing the company – or indeed, the island – needs, is to be hit with increasing costs, bad publicity and further restrictions, and certainly not threat of being sued by a litigious partner.

Where would we be if they felt driven to pull out? As it happens, the company has signalled its intention to maintain serving the island and appears prepared to invest substantial sums in new vessels, but in order to plan ahead strategically, any such undertaking needs confidence and stability.

After all, as far as I understand it, they’re not asking us to buy their boats for them, only to agree to an extended ramp licence in order to provide a long-term guarantee of their commitment.

Business leaders have already risen to support the operator, and as Gordon Forest, of the Jersey Chamber of Commerce pointed out in a recent BBC interview, if we seriously wanted to introduce competition on the route, it would have to be on a level playing field. Any other operator would have to guarantee the same level of service, not just cherry-pick the lucrative parts of the operation.

You only have to look across the waves to our fellow Bailiwick to see what chaos has been caused to vital air links by the impending pull-out by FlyBe, coupled with institutional meddling on the ground. Having just shelled out £ 80million of tax-payers money to upgrade its runway for modern traffic, the only operator likely to be making use of it, is its own loss-making outfit, Aurigny.

Instead of extending the facilities while they had the chance, it rather looks as though the Island has shot itself through the foot, as neither British Airways nor even EasyJet currently possess suitable airliners to operate comfortably there , and in any case local restrictive licensing has caused potential carriers to be wary. Instead, the island is now forced to protect its obscurely-named airline further by investing another £25million of public money in the purchase of its own jet airliner.

It’s fair to say, bureaucrats and politicians have a less than inspiring record in their attempts to regulate 21st Century transport projects. The arrival of CTPlus on both islands has given plenty of opportunity for much ‘tut-tutting’ by local transport ‘anoraks’, grandstanding politicians and bemused bus travellers – as much, it has to be said, over the negotiations with respective government representatives as their operating record.

Grafting UK practices and local expectations on established island networks was always going to require an unusual act of faith. Given that the operation in Guernsey took an unseemly long time to bed in, hopes that lessons would have been learnt before the company subsequently took to Jersey’s roads with its sparkling new fleet and eye-catching rebranding, were compromised by a pre-emptive industrial action by drivers and reports of a deep misunderstanding between the parties of undertakings over the transfer of staff and their conditions of employment.

The road to the new contract had seen complaints by the former operator of unfair practice, enticing promises of community- enriching profit by the new bidder, over confident assurances by TSS that difficulties were being addressed, and simmering accusations of bad faith by the unions. Despite all the posturing and politicking from the sidelines, the service itself has proved popular with the public and does those actually running the buses, much credit.

Once upon a time, transport was a much more stable playing field. Government had a fully incorporated stake in flag carrying enterprises. London Transport led the world with its integrated network serving the capital till some political genius reckoned it was rife for profitable exploitation.

The same happened in the aviation industry and on the railways. Unfettered deregulation has reduced essential services provided by dedicated professionals into cut-throat victims of political or commercial stake-holders. Nevertheless, the evidence that companies such as Condor, British Airways and EasyJet are prepared to continue to service our links is a bonus which we interfere with at our peril.

Perish the thought that any local genius might think of privatising the hospital, and see if any company is up for breaking that monopoly – it’s been done elsewhere!