Santorini Cable Car Capacity

Just a little arithmetic that I did while waiting in the cable car queue:

Officially, the capacity is 1200 per hour, with 3 minutes between sets.

Number of seats per car - 6

Number of cars per set - 6

Interval between sets (according to my watch) - 4 minutes = 15 sets per hour.

Actual capacity of system = 6 x 6 x 15 = 540 per hour in each direction.

I suspect that the official figure includes a full load of passengers going up at the same time as others go down.

So if you have a couple of ships, with maybe 1000 passengers each, all wanting to get back at once, it will be a long wait.

The system is over 30 years old. I wonder when it was last upgraded.

Hi Steve,

Yes, those figures do suggest a capacity with full cars both up & down at the same time, something that rarely happens.

With anything like this I tend to ignore statistics ("there are three types of lies. Lies, damned lies, & statistics" - Benjamin Disraeli)

Instead we go by the anecdotal experiences of others.

And we've seen the lines ourselves.:eek:

That's why we give ourselves a bare minimum of 30 minutes from the top station to the tender pier - the cable car line is often longer than that, but instead of taking the cable car it takes under 30 minutes to walk down the zig-zag path.

Those who can't manage the steps would need to allow longer.

JB :)

Hi Steve,

 

Yes, those figures do suggest a capacity with full cars both up & down at the same time, something that rarely happens.

With anything like this I tend to ignore statistics ("there are three types of lies. Lies, damned lies, & statistics" - Benjamin Disraeli)

Instead we go by the anecdotal experiences of others.

And we've seen the lines ourselves.:eek:

 

That's why we give ourselves a bare minimum of 30 minutes from the top station to the tender pier - the cable car line is often longer than that, but instead of taking the cable car it takes under 30 minutes to walk down the zig-zag path.

 

Those who can't manage the steps would need to allow longer.

 

JB :)

On my latest visit, it took me 1 hour 5 minutes from joining the queue to getting into a car, and that was with just two ships anchored. On a previous visit, it was nearer 2 hours.

I won't be bothering to go ashore again in Santorini until something is done to improve the situation

And there is a current thread on the Royal Caribbean board about passengers who were left behind yesterday due to the long lines http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2409971

We have stayed onboard in Santorini a few times, rather than face the hassle of getting up - and back down.

The boat to Oia is an alternative way of getting there, but you still need to get back down by cable car (or foot) so build in plenty of time.

And there is a current thread on the Royal Caribbean board about passengers who were left behind yesterday due to the long lines http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2409971

 

.

A post on that thread mentioned that the last tender actually left half-an-hour after the advertised "last tender" time, waiting for late stragglers.

Unless those folk had mobility issues, I don't understand why they didn't abandon the line & walk down the zig-zag path. Surely their agitation was noticed by others in the line, and plenty of folk know about the path.

And as it turns out, even if they'd not taken to the path until the deadline had passed, they'd still have made it.

But if they did have mobility issues, would they not have learned about the potential for a long delay & made allowance for it? It's pretty common knowledge, and being over half-an-hour late shows that they really were pushing their luck.

There are occasions, when folk miss their sailing for unforeseeable reasons, that I do feel for them. But sorry, this isn't one of those occasions.

JB :)

A post on that thread mentioned that the last tender actually left half-an-hour after the advertised "last tender" time, waiting for late stragglers.

Unless those folk had mobility issues, I don't understand why they didn't abandon the line & walk down the zig-zag path. Surely their agitation was noticed by others in the line, and plenty of folk know about the path.

And as it turns out, even if they'd not taken to the path until the deadline had passed, they'd still have made it.

 

But if they did have mobility issues, would they not have learned about the potential for a long delay & made allowance for it? It's pretty common knowledge, and being over half-an-hour late shows that they really were pushing their luck.

 

There are occasions, when folk miss their sailing for unforeseeable reasons, that I do feel for them. But sorry, this isn't one of those occasions.

 

JB :)

Perhaps they were given the same advice by their tour guide that I was. "DO NOT try to walk down the path. The ship's crew are monitoring the situation at the top cable car station and will wait for you."

We walked down the steps and it was not bad at all. We saw the line and knew it would be a very long, hot wait (July!). We set off down the steps, avoided the poop and the donkeys coming up, and made it just fine. I suggest if anyone is in reasonably fit condition and doesn't have any mobility issues, to try the steps down (up is different!).

With all the millions the local restaurants and retailers in Santorini make from cruise ship visitors the Greek Government should slap a special levy on those beneficiaries to replace the existing low capacity system with a continuous moving rope cableway with much greater capacity .

Over 1 hour queue last week and only 2 ships in port!

On my latest visit, it took me 1 hour 5 minutes from joining the queue to getting into a car, and that was with just two ships anchored. On a previous visit, it was nearer 2 hours.

 

I won't be bothering to go ashore again in Santorini until something is done to improve the situation

Then you will probably never be able to go ashore (in Santorini) again. In April we talked to a cable car official (we met him on the island) and asked him about any future plans to increase capacity. At this time there are no plans. Like many ports, there is some controversy on the island about cruise passengers. While many merchants love the cruisers, there are many others on the island that would be happy with fewer cruise ships. While we cruisers like to think the world revolves around cruise ships, the reality on land is quite different. Most islands (around the world) work to increase the hotel/B&B visitors who spend a lot more per day then cruise passengers.

Here is a link to an interesting article on Santorini:

http://greece.greekreporter.com/2016/02/15/santorini-emerges-as-one-of-the-worlds-top-tourism-destinations/

Hank

I understood from our tour guide last week, that there is now a limit in place of a max of 4 cruise ships in any one day. (size of ship etc was not mentioned).

She did say that during the season there had been occasions when there were up to 8 ships in the bay. :eek:

I understood from our tour guide last week, that there is now a limit in place of a max of 4 cruise ships in any one day. (size of ship etc was not mentioned).

She did say that during the season there had been occasions when there were up to 8 ships in the bay. :eek:

So assume there are a mere 8,000 cruise passengers on Santorini. And assume that just half of them need to get down to the tender pier. It would take around 6 hours! And that is the dilemma of Santorini.

Hank

Then you will probably never be able to go ashore (in Santorini) again. In April we talked to a cable car official (we met him on the island) and asked him about any future plans to increase capacity. At this time there are no plans. Like many ports, there is some controversy on the island about cruise passengers. While many merchants love the cruisers, there are many others on the island that would be happy with fewer cruise ships. While we cruisers like to think the world revolves around cruise ships, the reality on land is quite different. Most islands (around the world) work to increase the hotel/B&B visitors who spend a lot more per day then cruise passengers.

Here is a link to an interesting article on Santorini:

http://greece.greekreporter.com/2016/02/15/santorini-emerges-as-one-of-the-worlds-top-tourism-destinations/

 

Hank

So be it :-(

I see from comments on the article that the situation at the airport sounds little better.

So be it :-(

 

I see from comments on the article that the situation at the airport sounds little better.

This is an island that has become a victim of it's own success. That being said, it is still fantastically beautiful (for lack of better words). We think the ideal way to visit Santorini is to spend a few days at an inn/hotel in Oia. However, the down side is that the really nice places in Oia can cost around $1000 a night (although there are certainly less expensive places).

Hank

This is an island that has become a victim of it's own success. That being said, it is still fantastically beautiful (for lack of better words). We think the ideal way to visit Santorini is to spend a few days at an inn/hotel in Oia. However, the down side is that the really nice places in Oia can cost around $1000 a night (although there are certainly less expensive places).

 

Hank

Pushing the prices way up is certainly one way of reducing visitor numbers while maintaining revenue levels. I've seen Caribbean islands go down this route and, IMO, completely destroy the atmosphere of the place in the process. Better transport infrastructure combined with a reasonable cap on numbers might be a better way to go.

It's not only the total number of pax. It's the staggering of departure times and perhaps having an express line for the ship that is leaving next. When we were there with a small ship there were 3 large ships. We were specifically told by CD not to attempt to return before the first two leave.

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Just a little arithmetic that I did while waiting in the cable car queue:

 

Officially, the capacity is 1200 per hour, with 3 minutes between sets.

 

Number of seats per car - 6

Number of cars per set - 6

Interval between sets (according to my watch) - 4 minutes = 15 sets per hour.

 

Actual capacity of system = 6 x 6 x 15 = 540 per hour in each direction.

 

I suspect that the official figure includes a full load of passengers going up at the same time as others go down.

 

So if you have a couple of ships, with maybe 1000 passengers each, all wanting to get back at once, it will be a long wait.

 

 

The system is over 30 years old. I wonder when it was last upgraded.

Haha! I did exactly the same thing (except to work out how much money they are raking in. No wonder they don't want to change the system. Stuff the customers.

They could also get ships docking on the other side of the island, or make another cable car on the right hand side of the one now operating.

I refused to go.